About 100 fish died Wednesday after an incident involving hazardous materials at a stream in Northern Virginia.
Peter Golkin, an agency spokesman, said initial findings showed that there was a “chemical smell” near a storm drain and that “would indicate that someone probably poured something not good down there.”
Dumping chemicals into a stream is illegal, and Golkin offered a reminder to the public that such activity harms wildlife and the environment.
“There are no filters on storm drains, so anything that goes down will work its way into the watershed, into the streams, and ultimately can reach the Chesapeake Bay,” Golkin said.
No areas of the trails or park at Four Mile Run are closed, but authorities said people and their pets should stay out of the water in that area. They also gave several tips about stream safety.
Golkin said there is no cleanup plan and that rain is typically the best way to deal with a spill because it “pushes and dissipates whatever was dumped.”
Four Mile Run is one of the largest streams in Arlington and covers a roughly nine-mile stretch.
Environmental and @ArlingtonVaFD staff are investigating a fishkill in Four Mile Run between S Walter Reed Drive and S Taylor St. People and their pets should avoid entering the water in the area. https://t.co/6RVLSZIHar pic.twitter.com/ehyht7ibZV
— Arlington Department of Environmental Services (@ArlingtonDES) September 7, 2022
