Napa Sanitation District is marking a county-transfiguring anniversary—it formed 75 years ago to turn the Napa River from an “open cesspool” with raw sewage into a water recreation draw.

Signs of success abound. Several kayakers launched into the Napa River on a recent day at the city of Napa’s Main Street dock. They weren’t holding their noses.

Paddleboarding and kayaking would be unappealing — not to mention unhealthy — without NapaSan’s contribution. Businesses such as Drew Dickson’s Napa Valley Paddle wouldn’t be here.

“From what I understand, it’s some of the cleanest water in the Bay Area,” Dickson said. “I would encourage testing to be done, because I think it’s something to be proud of.”

To be sure, the city of Napa’s stretch of the Napa River isn’t as crystal-clear as an alpine lake. It nourishes mucky marshes. Like most major California waterways, it is on the Environmental Protection Agency’s impaired waterways list for certain pollutants.

But the community long ago stopped using the Napa River for a toilet. NapaSan on its diamond anniversary is celebrating its role in polishing a regional gem.

“I think we’ve been better trying to advertise the role we have played,” District General Manager Tim Healy said.

Napa River runs 55 miles from its headwaters near Mount St. Helena through the middle of the Napa Valley wine country to San Pablo Bay. The section in the city of Napa is tidal, with water levels rising and falling twice daily.

In those not-so-good-old days, the city of Napa, Napa State Hospital, the state Veterans Home of California at Yountville and others dumped raw sewage into the river. Tides didn’t always do a good job of flushing things out.

In August 1898, city of Napa resident W. H. Atkinson blamed the death of a child from illness on poor Napa River quality. He called the sewage situation “deliberate murder.”

“When are the children of this town to be able to get water to drink, not sewage that stinks in the bathtub to such an extent that it nauseates people in the next room?” Atkinson said.

In 1913, the San Francisco Yacht Club rejected Napa as a destination for its annual cruise. Members couldn’t stomach odors caused by garbage and sewage in the river near the Third Street bridge.

State Sanitary Inspector Eduard Ross shortly thereafter recommended the city of Napa build an adequate sewer system.

“Napa, a city of 6,000 people, has an unusual condition to contend with in the dumping of sewage and debris in Napa River,” the June 25, 1914 edition of The Sacramento Union reported.

Such warnings went unheeded. In November 1931, 300 residents petitioned the Napa City Council to do something about a stinking Napa River. The council declined, saying the odor had happened during other dry years.

Napa kept growing and pouring increasing amounts of raw sewage into the river. In 1944, state sanitary engineers declared the river “an open cesspool.”

Finally, in November 1945, residents voted to form NapaSan. According to The Napa Journal, the vote was a 641-5 landslide, though turnout was low.

Napa Mayor S. J. Cinnamond said that “with the cleanup of the river, a major health menace to the city will be eliminated.” Yachting and boating will return, fishing will improve and swimming will be possible, he said.

The cleanup didn’t happen overnight. Even with the first treatment plant built in 1949 along Imola Avenue at the river, work remained.

In 1954, the county Director of Public Health Edward Pickney declared the river a public health menace for anglers and water enthusiasts. Sewage still dumped into waterways at 43 locations. NapaSan pledged to fix the problem.

It did. In August 1957, agency chairperson Joe Greco announced the last of two lines discharging waste to the river had been connected to the main sewer trunk lines. “Health Threat in River Ended,” proclaimed a The Napa Register headline.