Advocates for the Little Falls watershed have been taking water samples from the Willett Branch and Little Falls Branch of the stream in Bethesda for several months, finding that a number of locations had E.coli bacteria counts that exceed the standards for safe water play for humans and animals. The Little Falls Watershed Alliance then sought a more refined testing procedure, to find out what the problem was. Results of those new tests show the contamination is even worse than originally believed.
The newest tests, conducted by the Potomac Riverkeepers Network (PRKN) Rapid Response team, show alarmingly high counts of E.coli at each location where samples were taken. Maryland standards for safe water play allow E. coli levels of 0 to 410 MPN/100ml. A Willett Branch sample taken 300 feet upstream from the Bethesda Pool shows an E.coli level of 12,667.5 MPN/100ml.
Because a sample taken from a small inlet entering the Bethesda Pool-area stream channel shows "only" 977.5 MPN, and the E.coli counts drop to "only" 8,664.0 and 4,352.0 (south of the pool and by Morgan Drive, respectively), watershed advocates believe there is either a rupture of a sewer line near the Purple Line construction site, or an illegal sewer hookup discharging from a building in that area. The stream was once above-ground there, but was placed underground as Bethesda urbanized.
LFWA and PRKN have reported the situation to Montgomery County and WSSC officials. It will now be up to them to investigate and determine the source of the E.coli. In the meantime, think twice before allowing children or pets to enter the stream.
Top photo: Robert Dyer / Chart & map courtesy Little Falls Watershed Alliance
3 comments:
This is what a third-world country looks like.
Congrats on never having traveled to a developing nation.
@1:35 PM: It doesn't have to be this way. Vote Republican next time.
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