The West Bay Sanitary District has been found liable by a federal judge for 21 illegal sewage spills into creeks and sloughs that drain into the Bay.
The district serves Menlo Park, Atherton, Portola Valley, Woodside, East Palo Alto and unincorporated areas.
With respect to the 21 spills, U.S. District Judge Edward Chen on Monday granted a summary judgment to the plaintiff in the case, San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental organization.
The judge said the district could incur up to $975,000 in fines under the federal Clean Water Act for those spills.
Baykeeper sought summary judgment on another 68 spills, but Judge Chen said that liability for those spills would have to be proven at a trial. After a trial, the district could appeal all of the rulings against it before fines are levied, according to the Associated Press.
West Bay Sanitary officials were not immediately available for comment.
In a press release, Baykeeper said that according to State Water Resource Board records, West Bay Sanitary District reported more than 300 sewer overflows between 2004 and 2010 that caused 60,000 gallons of sewage to flow into local creeks and sloughs that drain to the Bay.