This dirty job results in cleaner streams

A vacuum hose stretches from this truck, parked at the Broad Branch Terrace entrance to Linnean Park on June 18th, to a “bubbler.” (photos by John Burwell)

Urban streams need maintenance, particularly those that have been restored after being buried for decades, and engineered to capture, filter and slowly release stormwater.

At the daylighted Linnean stream, a contraption called a “bubbler” is fed by heavy and powerful rainstorms.

The bubbler and the cleanup crew.

The bubbler consists of a vertical pipe that takes the water overload to an empty holding pool. That excess water eventually soaks into the ground, filtering out pollutants, and is slowly released into the ponds down the stream from the bubbler’s perch near the intersection of Broad Branch Terrace and Fessenden Streets.

The bubbler full of stormwater in December 2023.

At the Linnean Avenue side of the park, the stream enters a pipe connected to the daylighted segment of Broad Branch Stream. Both streams were freed from pipes and brought to the surface in 2014.

On June 18th, the Linnean bubbler got a deep cleaning. It had been five years since the last cleanout, and the top of the bubbler was mostly hidden from sight due to the detritus and plant life that had made its home on top, and other plants that had sprung up all around.

The bubbler in January 2024.

The cleanup crew was from SMC, operating under a contract from the DC Department of Energy and the Environment. They used a big vacuum cleaner to remove a lot of the accumulated sediment.

The job also required some digging out by hand. It was such a big job that the contractor had to return on July 3rd to finish the cleanup.

A worker inside the Linnean bubbler on July 3rd.

John Burwell, the chair and cofounder of the Linnean Park Partnership, said he found the process intriguing. He also was pleased with the care and expertise SMC put into the work.

“They were able to do the work without disturbing any of the young trees surrounding the area around the bubbler,” Burwell, who is also a certified Weed Warrior, told Forest Hills Connection, “and in fact they’ve offered some other plants we could place around the bubbler to disguise it a little further.”

Linnean Park Partnership also keeps the trail maintained with the help of volunteers, and the cleaned-out bubbler and pool will better protect it. Steve Saari, head of water resources at DOEE, explained that they work to capture stormwater before the stream can overflow its banks and flood the path.

Marlene Berlin, Forest Hills Connection’s editor-in-chief, is a Linnean Park Partnership cofounder.