Please report any pollution of the Bennington tributary to the Department of Environtmental Protection at 240-777-7770 during normal business hours and 240-777-3867 outside of normal hours.

Update by Anne Vorce
Mar 6, 2009

7.26am: As I took my dog Rosie on her usual morning walk, I smelled something different and not very pleasant coming from the creek area near our house. Rosie allowed me to pull her to the creek edge to investigate. The Bennington Tributary appears to have pollution in it today. The discharge from both pipes spilling out in the Trib. contains some sort of sudsy foam, which has a slight odor. I noticed the same thing yesterday (Thursday) am at around the same time, but waited to report it until I had more time to investigate. (At first glance, I thought it might be natural foam.) This pollution may have occured during the night as well. I smelled something odd from our hill last night, but could not see well enough to investigate.

I have reported this to our ever-vigilant investigators at the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, who have done so much to minimize upstream problems causing downstream pollution. I have also left an early message with the County's Anti-Dumping hotline recording.

I just hate to see the migrating birds in a polluted body of water.

Wednesday, March 11 (7pm), and Thursday, March 12 (8am). While walking Rosie, the dog, last night and this morning, I noticed that what appeared to be suds had built up just below the outfall of the Bennington Tributary. The suds were worse last night, but they were still noticeable this morning. It is so sad to see what is probably pollution in what is essentially a watering hole for the nearby wildlife. I would presume it is the main water source for the migrating birds that have been increasingly showing up. I noticed the robins today. The red shouldered hawk is active in the area. The cardinals are singing their songs in the early morning. I have reported the problem to the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection and to the County Dumping Hot-line, as suggested by the FOSC.

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Update by Anne Vorce
Jul 29, 2009

July 29 - When taking the dog on her usual nightly walk, at around 7.10 tonight, I smelled something pretty strong like chlorine coming from the Bennington Tributary. When I went over to the Tributary to inspect, I saw the water pretty full of alot of brownish, almost sudsy bubbles. To check out the upstream situation, I walked over to the pipes coming from under Bennington Drive. The right pipe (the one away from the road) was putting out alot more volume and sudsy bubbles than the left pipe.

I have followed the suggestions of the FOSC website to report a problem: I left a message with the Montgomery County Environmental Protection hotline, called the Park Police, and sent the County an electronic complaint. I also sent an email to Steve Martin and Dan McCann, the DEP experts who have been so active in improving upstream Sligo Creek water quality.

With this spot serving as a watering hole for so many birds and animals (a nearby little dog loves to play fetch in the stream) - and I've also seen little kids playing in it - it is deplorable to smell and see such degradation.

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