Construction At HSU Leads To Paint In Arcata Creek

Clean-up underway from spill at new athletics complex

Humboldt Sentinel
News 6/2/08
By Sentinel Staff

ARCATA -- Clean-up efforts continue at Humboldt State University after paint from the new athletics building washed into Campbell Creek.

Just before 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, university police received a complaint from a member of the public concerning paint contaminating Campbell Creek, which runs through the campus and downstream into Arcata proper and Humboldt Bay.

After searching a number of sites on campus, the source was located about two hours later, when investigators from HSU and the City of Arcata discovered that wash water used to clean paint brushes and rollers had been illegally dumped into a storm water drain which was mislabeled as a sewer. The paint was being used at the Kinesiology and Athletics Building construction site on the east side of campus.

While HSU claims the latex paint in question is not acutely hazardous, officials at the Environmental Health Division of Humboldt County were notified, as well as the Regional Water Quality Control Board. While the flow of contaminated water has been cut off, the investigation is ongoing, and also involves California Fish and Game officials who examined the site on Friday.

HSU Vice President of Administrative Affairs Carl Coffey said in a release that mitigation efforts are underway, the campus has insisted on an aggressive clean-up of the creek system and that expertise from the faculty has been offered.