NEWS RELEASE

Date: April 17, 2002

Seven Silicon Valley firms issue 'corporate challenge' to clean up Santa Clara County creeks

SAN JOSE - Seven Silicon Valley businesses are challenging their colleagues to make a visible difference this Earth Day by adopting and cleaning up a small section of a creek in Santa Clara County.

Employee volunteers with Adobe Systems, Agilent Technologies, Cinnabar Hills Golf Course, Flextronics, Nortel Networks, San Jose Country Club and Therma Corporation will hold inaugural creek cleanups on Earth Day, April 22.

They want their peers to take action and adopt a creek section of their own some time between Earth Day and this year's National River Cleanup Day, which will be held May 18.

"With the Guadalupe River flowing near our campus, we are especially sensitive to the interconnections between the environment and the daily operation of our business, " said Dyanne Compton, Adobe Systems' senior manager of community relations.

"In Silicon Valley, a region nationally recognized for its philanthropy, we're hoping our employees' volunteer efforts will inspire others throughout the community to adopt a small section of creek to make a difference."

The seven companies - which call themselves the "First Challengers" - will continue to periodically clean their adopted creeks throughout the year. Four of the firms - Adobe Systems, Agilent Technologies, Flextronics and Nortel Networks - are members of Santa Clara Valley Water District's Adopt-A-Creek program.

The program allows businesses, individuals, schools, clubs and associations to adopt a section of creek. Joining the program is as easy as working with the water district to choose a creek to help clean and picking two days a year to do a cleanup. The water district provides gloves, trash bags and other tools to perform the cleanup, and will pick up all trash and debris collected by the Adopt-A-Creek crews.

Nearly all of the creeks and rivers in Santa Clara County have been affected by decades of increasing population growth and are in desperate need of cleaning.

Local volunteers participating in last year's two communitywide creek cleanup days -- National River Cleanup Day in May and September's Coastal Cleanup Day -- picked up 70,610 pounds of trash and debris in county creeks, a 29 percent increase over 2000.

To learn more about the Adopt-A-Creek program or the Corporate Challenge, visit the water district Web site at www.valleywater.org or call program coordinator Ed Morales at (408) 265-2607, ext. 2280.

Santa Clara Valley Water District is Santa Clara County's wholesale drinking water manager and coordinates flood protection for its 1.7 million residents, while serving as steward of the county's more than 700 miles of streams.