Water Spill Kills McLean Fish

Water spill kills McLean fish

Vienna - Oakton
Source: Fairfax County Times
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2 2008
 

A broken Falls Church City water main is believed to have killed virtually the entire fish population in several miles of the Pimmit Run stream where it runs through McLean.

"It killed practically everything. At least 90 percent of the fish are dead," said Ed Pickens, of Fairfax Trails and Streams.

According to Falls Church City spokesperson Nicole Gobbo, work crews discovered a broken 20-inch water main near the intersection of Great Falls Street and Hutchinson Street at around 3 a.m. March 25. By 6:00 a.m. the pipe had been shut off but in the meantime it discharged hundreds of gallons of Falls Church City drinking water into Pimmit Run.

The water contained chloramine, a standard disinfectant for municipal drinking water. Chloramine is added to water to kill bacteria, but it is also toxic to fish.
Carol McCleary, who lives in a neighborhood bordering Kent Gardens Park, feared the worst when she found the stream by her home full of dead minnows during her daily walk.

"It's scary. ... Kids play in that stream, dogs go in that stream," McCleary said. “Even the worms are dead.”
According to Park Authority naturalist Charles Smith, the water in Pimmit Run is not hazardous to people or, at least, not more hazardous than it was.

"That's not a good stream for people to be in anyway, but this was not a poison or anything like that. ... Even a small amount of chlorine is bad for the fish," Smith said.
According to Smith, the chloramine-treated water is already being flushed from the stream, which should gradually be repopulated from the adjoining streams. The thousands of tiny fish corpses in the water aren't a threat either, Smith said.

"Scavengers will consume those quickly. ... It's a cool time of year, so there shouldn't be a problem with bacteria," he said.

According to Department of Environmental Quality pollution response coordinator Mark Miller, who inspected the fish kill for the DEQ, Falls Church City will not be penalized for the incident.

“While dumping of water into a stream is against the law, this wasn't intentional, and we don't intend to pursue enforcement,” Miller said.

Email the reporter at mtayloe@timespapers.com