Spring Cleaning at Forester Creek

A crew of about a dozen workers, including Public Services Manager Bob Stein, (shown here), removed more than 15 cubic yards of trash and debris from Forester Creek Thursday.

Santee routinely cleans the concrete-lined channel to protect water quality in the San Diego River, which receives the flow from the tributary creek.

“We try to clean out the channel after every storm with city crews, volunteers and our contractors,” Stein said.

Most of the trash, which includes tons of plastics, is transported by rain into storm drains in the city of El Cajon and gets flushed downstream to Santee, Stein explained.

Santee’s stream cleaning effort is necessary to fulfill requirements of its state stormwater discharge permit, which is aimed at enforcing the federal Clean Water Act.

"To promote better water quality in the San Diego River, we regularly clear out drain pipes, clean drainage channels and hire a contractor to perform street sweeping," Stein said.

Public Works Week

National Public Works Week (May 15-21) means its time to tip our hats to the city of Santee’s public services crew. The 13-member staff performs an amazing array of tasks ranging from graffiti removal to patching potholes. They are a resourceful group of men and women, and we salute them for their diligent efforts to maintain Santee as a great place to live. The gentleman in this photo operating a power sweeper at Town Center Community Park is Public Services Manager Bob Stein, who obviously leads by example and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty. If you see something that needs their attention, you can leave a message by calling the Public Services Division hotline at (619) 258-4195, Ext. 104.