What killed fish,
frogs in the creek?

By Lauren Fritsky
Times Staff Writer

The state Department of Environmental Protection is investigating the source of a contaminant that killed a few hundred animals in Paul’s Run Creek last week.
Environmental officials began testing the water in the creek near Bustleton Avenue and Norwalk Road early last week to find the source of the pollution, which killed 250 fish, five frogs, three ducklings and some worms.
Officials currently have no clues as to what type of contaminant is responsible or how it entered the water.
The substance has been described as colorless with a slick sheen and a petroleum odor. The DEP is examining the creek, which is a tributary of the Pennypack, along with the Philadelphia Water Department and the Fish and Boat Commission.
"We don’t have any specific leads," said Dennis Harney, DEP spokesman. "We did take samples. The possibilities are nearly endless. Our staff has been in the field trying to collect any evidence."
Harney said acquiring results from the water samples could take days.
Of special interest is the fact that whatever contaminated the water was either too fast-acting for the animals besides the fish to escape or undetectable to their senses, Harney said.
"This sort of impact is out of the ordinary because it affected more than just fish," he said. "It happens more frequently that fish are affected by accidental, inadvertent improper discharge."
Officials are focusing on the half-mile stretch where the creek, which runs in a southeasterly direction, crosses under Bustleton Avenue at Norwalk Road and runs downstream as far as Country Lane Way. There are two storm drainpipes that dump directly into the creek off Bustleton Avenue.
Though it would be difficult for substances dumped down a household sink to enter the creek, it is possible that an illegal sewer line exists that connects someone’s house drain and a storm drain, Harney said. There’s also the more sinister theory that someone intentionally put the contaminant in the creek.
"Whether it’s accidental or not, we don’t know," Harney said. "It is possible that the water was deliberately contaminated."
He asked residents to use common sense when swimming in the creek and said that those individuals living near the Pennypack, which is about two miles downstream, should not be concerned.
"We don’t have reason to believe that this is an ongoing situation," Harney said, "or that the additional flow in the creek would do anything but dilute it and make it less harmful." ••
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com