Already trashed for decades, Fresno canals worse off due to homeless crisis, pandemic

The miles of waterways in the Fresno area are homes of last resort for some of the region’s homeless — and straining resources of the Fresno Irrigation District.

Keeping canals free of debris and trying to ensure the water they carry contains a minimum of toxic contaminants is a perpetual issue for canal officials.

But as those who can find no other housing set up along canals, that goal has become more difficult, said Adam Claes, assistant general manager of the district.

The district recently joined with the City of Fresno to clear a stretch of canal along East McKinley Avenue from North Peach Avenue to Highway 41 of encampments. That process included removing trash and debris from the canal floor before water begins flowing sometime in June.

It also requires providing advance notice to those living along the banks, attempting to find storage for their property and working to find them alternate homes, something homeless advocates often criticize as ineffective.

Claes said the McKinley site was perhaps the biggest encampment in the district, But it is far from the only one. Another site on the district’s list is along Dakota Avenue between North Palm and North West avenues. Anyone who walks along the canal bank there will see the flotsam and jetsam of urban life: beer cans, plastic trash bags, diapers, borne by the rusty shopping carts that lay nearby.

Trashed Fresno canals worse during COVID

The homeless are far from the only Fresnans to use the district’s canals as dumping grounds.

Fishing shopping carts, tires, batteries, oil cans, and other foul items from the waterways has been a chore for district workers for decades. Shopping carts are a special problem: They are bulky and heavy to move in any quantity, and stores don’t want them back for use by grocery shoppers, Claes said.

But Claes said there has been a big increase in refuse in the past year, coinciding with the coronavirus pandemic.

The city in August reported more than 1,000 new homeless, complicating cleanup operations. The district has been pulling workers off construction and earthwork crews to keep up. Cleanup efforts have often doubled, to twice a month, he said.

Sontaya Rose, spokeswoman for the City of Fresno, said officials are aware of canal encampments. But the most dangerous areas — such as the “Triangle” at Golden State Boulevard and Highway 99, where a homeless population was just fee from busy roadways — are the city’s highest priority. Other areas are also on the city’s project list, however.

Because the district’s canal system is linked to the city’s ponding basins, which take in water during rainstorms, refuse in canals is an issue for every water user in the city. Overflow from the basins goes to recharge the city’s groundwater, Claes, noted, and “could end up in drinking water.”

Claes didn’t have numbers available for the costs of removing debris from the system, but according to the National Resources Defense Council, its costs millions in other cities. San Diego, for example, spends $14 million a year on water cleanup.