Caltrans: Slimy substance in the Sierra no big deal
By Barbara Barte Osborn, Sacramento Bee
On his way to Lake Tahoe earlier this month, Greg Service pulled into an eastbound rest stop along Interstate 80 about 40 miles west of Truckee.
The Santa Rosa resident tossed a ball to his dog at the Gold Run Safety Area, but was soon in for a nasty surprise.
“He came out of the bushes covered with slime,” Service said. “It smelled like sewage.”
Behind the bushes, Service said he saw a stream covered with a foamy, orange, foul-smelling substance.
“It was about 5-feet across in some places and almost 3 feet deep in some places,” he said. “It was full of what appeared to be sewage.”
He cleaned up his dog – “fortunately, I had the truck, so he could ride in back,” he said – and continued on.
But he was so concerned about the incident, he took photos of the stream and called the state Department of Transportation. Dissatisfied with the agency’s response, he checked the westbound Gold Run rest stop on his way home, where he found more of the substance, and later called the Bee.
“It was right after the Fourth of July holiday,” Service said, adding that he suspected that the rest stop’s sewage system had backed up or they flushed it “right into an open trench about 100 feet away.”