A man and toddler rode bikes just before sunset in mid December alongside Marsh Creek near Dainty Avenue and Central Boulevard in Brentwood.
The creek’s shallow stream of water had a steady flow as it traveled through the openings beneath the deck of the Dainty Avenue bridge. The area had received nearly 3 inches of rain over the course of just a few days.
The man pointed out the water level to the boy as they rode past. He noted that it was rare for Marsh Creek to be so full.
But at one time, it wouldn’t have been so out of the ordinary to see the creek brimming.
Doreen Pierce Forlow had grown up just down the road from that particular stretch of creek on Oak Street. The 75-year-old president of the East Contra Costa Historical Society recalled it always being filled with water when she was a child and that it would often overflow when it rained.
“One of the big deals was, ‘Are we going to have to evacuate?’ because Marsh Creek would go over the top at Dainty Avenue,” Pierce Forlow said. “We would always be concerned that we would be flooded out.”
Two “overflow catches” have since been built near the John Marsh Historic Home at 21789 Marsh Creek Road in Brentwood to help prevent flooding, she said, noting that the second had been built as an overflow for the first.
“Now none of them are even full of water at all,” Pierce Forlow said. “I guess there’s a little water in that (Marsh Creek) Reservoir there, but not much.”
She attributes the regular lack of water in Marsh Creek partially to California’s current drought, which has been ravaging the state for several years.
According to the U.S. Drought monitor, nearly all of California is experiencing drought conditions ranging from ‘moderate’ to ‘extreme.’ Contra Costa County is classified in the ‘severe’ drought category, the third most serious of the monitor’s drought classifications, conditions of which include decreased river flow and low reservoir levels. …
Cassie Dickman 