Unaware of E. coli pollution, schools bring kids to Rock Creek; ANC 3F urges NPS to post warnings

A technician for the DC Department of Energy and the Environment checks Soapstone Creek surface water in 2015. (photo by Julia Robey Christian, DOEE)

by Marlene Berlin

While hiking in Rock Creek Park one day in mid-March, I encountered two school groups. One, which looked kindergarten age, was there to learn about stream ecology. I overheard a teacher telling the students he’d be showing them what was living under the rocks. Hearing this disturbed me, and I told the teachers that they and their students should not come in contact with the water. The teachers of a high school group I saw a little later got the same warning.

I wrote about the reason last month: dangerously high levels of E. coli contaminate the creekwater. That was not my own assessment, but that of U.S. Geological Survey water technicians I spoke to as they collected samples from Rock Creek at the Joyce Road Bridge.

One of them asked me to warn the community, so I’ll say it again: No one – adult, child or canine – should come in contact with the water in Rock Creek or the streams that feed it. It disturbs me that the National Park Service has not posted any warnings at or near spots in the park where people like to gather, and I wonder how many people and pets are sickened by the polluted water without ever knowing the cause.

ANC 3F, the advisory neighborhood commission that includes part of Rock Creek Park and the Soapstone and Broad Branch tributaries, passed a resolution at its March 21st meeting urging the Rock Creek NPS and the DC Department of Energy and the Environment (DOEE) to put up warning signage. ANC 3F Commissioner Mitchell Baer said that among trail maintenance volunteers like himself, the creek pollution has been disseminated and discussed for years.

“I’ve been told that we were to instruct people to stay out of the water in the creeks and streams going into Rock Creek because of high E. coli and other hazardous pollutants in the water,” Baer said.

USGS isn’t the only agency checking the water in Rock Creek and its tributaries. DOEE also conducts testing, and Rock Creek Conservancy partners with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and Anacostia Riverkeeper to monitor bacteria levels during the warmer months, when there are more visitors.

Those organizations are seeking volunteer monitors, who collect bacteria and turbidity samples each week at Rock Creek Park sites popular with visitors, and at storm sewer outfalls. If you’re interested, you can learn the ropes at virtual training sessions, one at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 5th (register here) and at the same time on Wednesday, April 12th (register here).

Questions? Contact Rock Creek Conservancy community engagement coordinator Landrum Beard at [email protected].