STREAM POLLUTION

           On Saturday, Aug. 25, 2001, a group of neighborhood volunteers were participating in a regularly scheduled stream monitoring session of Donaldson Run in the vicinity of Potomac Overlook Regional Park.  The volunteers found dozens of fish, crawfish, eels, and other aquatic animals dead in the creek.  The Arlington County Fire Department’s hazmat response team investigated the site and issued a “reverse 911” message to telephone prefixes in the Donaldson Run and Bellevue Forest communities on Saturday evening.  This message warned people and pets to stay out of the creek until Sunday evening.  This incident was subsequently reported in the Washington Post, Arlington Journal, the Arlington Sun-Gazette, and by local television news programs.

            County officials believe that the incident was caused by the runoff of herbicides sprayed on the grounds of the Washington Golf and Country Club (WGCC) and then washed into Donaldson Run by a subsequent rain storm.  The golf course fairways drain directly into the Donaldson Run and Gulf Branch streams.

            The herbicide was intended to kill all plant and animal life in the top two inches of the soil in preparation for a new variety of grass for the renovation of the fairways.  BASF (the company that applied the herbicide) applied about 8,000 pounds of the herbicide (Basamid) to twelve of the fairways on the golf course on Thursday (8/23/2001).  The heavy rains that evening washed some of the herbicide into the Donaldson Run and Gulf Branch streams.  As a result of the contamination, WGCC has agreed not to treat the remaining six fairways (which drain into Gulf Branch).  The herbicide has a half-life of several hours.

            County, state, and federal officials have met with representatives of the WGCC and BASF.  Officials include Arlington’s Department of Environmental Services (DES) and Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).  Federal officials include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Park Police.

            District of Columbia officials tested water samples at the point where the creed runs into the Potomac River but found no trace of contaminants.  They concluded that the substance had been diluted by the time it reached that congruence.

            Donaldson Run Civic Association (DRCA) representatives are working with Arlington County environmental staff to get a final report on water quality and to ensure that steps are taken to prevent future stream contamination.  Further information, as it becomes available, will be sent to the DRCA email list.  A summary report will be included in the next issue of the DRCA newsletter (The Current), which should arrive in your mailboxes in mid-October.  Until then, we ask you to share this information with your neighbors who might not participate in our email list.  We will also invite county environmental staff and representatives of the WGCC to respond to community concerns at the September 25, 2001, DRCA general meeting.  WGCC’s operations are subject to an Arlington County Board-approved use permit.

            A special thank you to DRCA members Helen Lane and Larry Finch and to Bellevue Forest resident Dan Radke for all their efforts in alerting the community to this incident and following up with county staff.

Peter Fallon

DRCA President