Why can’t I play in the creek Daddy ?

The Centreville spray irrigation field for processed sewage, April of 2005

 

the five acre holding pond.

 

Runoff and soil from a small rain event flows across the east field and into this massive gully.

 

 

From the large gully it’s directed into a man made channel…

 

 

then into a small, frog filled ravine that ran about 200 feet down to Three Bridges Branch. It’s my understanding that this small ecosystem, full of frogs and a few turtles was destroyed and filled in last summer by contractors to get water off the field and into the stream much faster.

 

 

The other side of the east field 40 minutes after the rain stopped.

 

 

 

 

 

             

 

For about an hour after the small rain event, rain water and soil continued to flow into various parts of Three Bridges Branch off the spray field.

 

The large tires on the sprayers cut channels across the fields that funneled brown water off the field and into the woods.

             

 

 

 

 

 

watering the trees.

 

after the runoff problems were pointed out.

             

There are two major problems with runoff coming from the spray irrigation field.The first one is obvious, tons of soil being washed into the Corsica River. The second, the processed sewage that is sprayed onto the field washes off of the field and into the same tributary of the bay. What water falls on or is sprayed on to the field is suppose to remain on the field and be absorbed by the field. This is also one of the reasons the Bay always looks brown.