Mark Creek-Water, a Berkeley homeless man, drinks from Strawberry Creek at the point where it is channeled under Oxford Street after passing through the UC Berkeley campus. Creek-Water refers to himself as such because he says he has survived on creek water for more than 20 years. “People don’t believe me,” he says, “but once you build an immunity, it’s OK.”

The settlement came on the day Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Susan Torrence filed charges against the company for allegedly allowing van operators to discharge hundreds of gallons of soapy wastewater into storm drains at UC Berkeley’s Foothill Housing Complex that feed Strawberry Creek.

...

Soap discharge into Strawberry Creek is a common occurrence, said Tom Kelly, a member of Berkeley’s Health Commission. From monitoring the creek at Strawberry Canyon Lodge in West Berkeley, he said two-to-three-foot-high suds appear every couple of weeks. “I don’t know how the hell the fish survive,” he said. “Hopefully this will send a message that it’s not OK to pollute the creek.”