Lake Barcroft contaminated with sewage for the fourth time this year
http://annandaleva.blogspot.com/2014/06/lake-barcroft-contaminated-with-sewage.html

Don’t swim in Lake Barcroft—and keep your children and pets away from the water, too. There’s been another sewage spill into the lake; it’s the fourth spill since April 29. Beaches 1-4 are closed. Only Beach 5, which is upstream from the spill, is open.

About 6,000 gallons of raw sewage spilled from the Holmes Run Pumping Station on the corner of Dearborn Drive and Sleepy Hollow Road into Holmes Run on June 16, reports an update on the Lake Barcroft community website.

“This is less than the 300,000 to 400,000 gallons of sewage and stormwater runoff that spilled into the lake from this same point during the April 30 storm,” the notice states, “but it is nearly twice as much raw sewage as the May 16 spill from this same point and the May 19 spill from the pumping station at Beach 3.”

Mason Supervisor Penny Gross has organized a meeting for the Lake Barcroft community with county wastewater management staff June 25, 7:30 p.m., at the Mason District Government Center.

According to Irene Haske, a spokesperson for the Stormwater, Wastewater, and Urban Forestry divisions in the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, the spill occurred when work crews were diverting the flows to the pump station to allow for inspection of the gravity line.

“When the pumps came on, the crews noted sewage coming up through the ground, indicating a leak from the force main serving this pump station,” she says. “The pump station was shut off; flows were diverted back to the gravity line and clean-up operations began.”

The force main had been repaired and tested after the April 29 spill and had been operational for about a month, Haske notes. “Crews are currently digging the pipe up to determine what failed and why. After each event the county undertook water testing at several locations above, below, and around the lake.”

Del. Kaye Kory, who lives on Lake Barcroft, doesn’t believe the county has done enough to notify residents about the unsafe water. During the previous sewage spill, she complained about the small signs with small type, and bigger signs appeared. Although the incidents were reported on the Lake Barcroft website and LakeLink, community email system, she says, lots of people were still likely to be unaware of what happened.

It’s also not known whether residents downstream from the dam, along Holmes Run Stream Valley Park were notified about any of these incidents.

The first sewage spill at Lake Barcroft this year occurred during a major rainstorm on April 29. “At this time the county was in the midst of rehabilitating the force main serving the Holmes Run pump station, and the temporary pump-around to allow this work was overwhelmed by the intensity of the storm,” Haske says. “The county had tried to get the station back in service immediately before the storm, but a connection on the force main had failed during testing. This force main connection was repaired immediately.”

The county estimates that about 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 gallons discharged from the sanitary sewer system during that incident was rain water entering the system. “During this event, the flows over the Barcroft dam were measured in excess of 500,000 gallons per minute,” Haske says.

The second spillage occurred during the storm on May 15 and 16, when the pumps at that station failed to turn on, Haske says. Crews adjusted the electrical controls on the pump to reduce the overflow. Approximately 3,200 gallons were discharged, and the flows over the dam at that time were measured at 1.2 million gallons per minute.

The third event occurred at a different pump station located near Beach 3 on May 18. A controller in the station malfunctioned, and it was not immediately detected because the previous storm had disabled the telephone lines used for automated reporting of pump station malfunctions to the county’s maintenance crews, Haske says.

The spillage occurred after crews physically checked the pumping stations that weekend and determined they were in good working condition. The overflow from that spill was estimated at 3,900 gallons. “Since this event, an automated, wireless backup communication system has been installed in the station to report any malfunctions to the county’s maintenance crews,” Haske says.
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Test results show “no detectable levels of human bacteria” in the water samples taken off each of the beaches, a notice posted on the Lake Barcroft website June 19 states. The beaches have been reopened, and people can swim in the lake. Bacteria results were higher in the water directly off the Woman’s Club Garden (although still well within state standards for swimming), so the “no swimming sign” is still up in that area.

The state needs to get their shit together and get this fixed.

While this is all very interesting from an environmental perspective, people should keep in mind that Lake Barcroft is a private lake. Anyone who isn't a Lake Barcroft resident or in the company of a Lake Barcroft resident is a trespasser - whether they are swimming, ice skating, fishing, boating, or just enjoying the view. Therefore, except for those of us affected by the unexplored downstream impacts from the spills, most people are completely unaffected by these events if they simply respect the property rights of those who pay taxes to the Lake Barcroft Watershed Improvement District. And yes, trespassers can be prosecuted. Maybe that realtor who was attacked by a rabid beaver last year would have preferred being arrested.

Lake Barcroft is cool....



























































......for me to poop in!

To Clarify Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> While this is all very interesting from an
> environmental perspective, people should keep in
> mind that Lake Barcroft is a private lake. Anyone
> who isn't a Lake Barcroft resident or in the
> company of a Lake Barcroft resident is a
> trespasser - whether they are swimming, ice
> skating, fishing, boating, or just enjoying the
> view. Therefore, except for those of us affected
> by the unexplored downstream impacts from the
> spills, most people are completely unaffected by
> these events if they simply respect the property
> rights of those who pay taxes to the Lake Barcroft
> Watershed Improvement District. And yes,
> trespassers can be prosecuted. Maybe that realtor
> who was attacked by a rabid beaver last year would
> have preferred being arrested.


Don't worry, nobody want to swim in your shitty (literally) lake.

Hahahahaha your precious lake is full of shit, Lake Barcrap, that's your new name, hope that this news is required for real estate disclosure laws. Buy my house and get access to a lake full of human feces.

What is the link to their website?

i'm pretty sure it's legal to have immigrants w/o operators license

to operate large equipment right near a power line

pretty sure. and anyway bullova will help cover it up if there's a cost over-run

Just so there's no confusion, here is the link to the website...

Lake Barcroft
http://www.lakebarcroft.org/

And here is their current update on the lake conditions...

UPDATE ON LAKE CONDITIONS - The beaches have been reopened for swimming. Test results show water quality levels back to normal ranges. Test results on water samples taken by the county on June 17 show no detectable levels of human bacteria at the samples taken off each of the beaches, so we have reopened the lake to swimming. Bacteria results were higher in the water directly off the Woman's Club Garden (although still well within state standards for swimming), but as a precaution WID is leaving a no swimming sign up in that area for the time being. The county took additional water samples on June 18 (no results yet) and will do so again on June 19.

The catfish are feasting on dookie

496 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The catfish are feasting on dookie


And the residents of Culmore are feasting on the catfish. It's the circle of life.

Lake Barcroft faces series of sewage spills
Four incidents since April 29 involve overflow from nearby pump station
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20140626/NEWS/140629431/1117/lake-barcroft-faces-series-of-sewage-spills&template=fairfaxTimes

The Lake Barcroft community has experienced closed beaches and limited lake access four times this year due to sewage spills.

Fairfax County officials have taken steps to address the causes of each of the sanitary sewer overflows and test the water for contaminants, according to Department of Public Works spokeswoman Irene Haske.

The lake, created in the early 1900s as a reservoir by damming Holmes Run, is now privately owned and accessible only to members of the Lake Barcroft Association.

The first sewer overflow occurred during a major storm April 29 near the Holmes Run pumping station, where the county was doing maintenance on a sewer main, Haske said.

While an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 gallons was discharged from the sanitary sewer system, county officials believe most of that was rain water that entered the system.

During another storm on May 15 and 16, about 3,200 gallons was discharged from the sanitary sewer when the pumps failed to turn on. County maintenance crews were quickly able to get the pumps up and running again, Haske said.

Two days later, a different pump station failed, leading to a 3,900 gallon overflow. After that event, a backup communication system was installed at that pump station to ensure that any malfunctions are reported to county maintenance crews.

The most recent overflow was June 17 and also occurred in an area where county crews were doing maintenance. When crews noticed the leak, they shut off the pumps and began to work to correct the problem, but not before an estimated 6,000 gallons of sewage was discharged.

The beaches reopened following the latest spill June 19 after tests found no detectable levels of human bacteria near the beaches. One area of the water did show detectable bacteria levels, although below state limits, and that area remained closed to swimming for a longer period.

Lake Barcroft residents charge county mishandled sewage spills
http://annandaleva.blogspot.com/2014/06/lake-barcroft-residents-charge-county.html

Residents of Lake Barcroft brought a long list of complaints to a meeting June 25 convened by Mason Supervisor Penny Gross on the recent sewage spills.

Emotions ran high as people demanded answers to their concerns about health hazards, poor engineering decisions, lack of accountability, environmental damage, and insufficient notification of residents.

There have been four separate spills in the past two months, resulting in a total of up to 413,000 gallons of sewage in the lake. Three of them originated at the pumping station on Sleepy Hollow Road, which was built in 1959.

The first spill, and by far the largest, occurred when temporary pumps at the station failed during a storm on April 29. The temporary pumps were in use as part of a $1.6 million project to install a liner inside the force main along Sleepy Hollow Road. Two of the later leaks happened when the connection between the force main and pump station failed.

Randy Bartlett, deputy director of the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES), said DNA testing of water samples showed elevated levels of bacteria at various locations around the lake, but it couldn’t be determined if they were due to the sewage spills or stormwater runoff, since there was also bacteria upstream at Tripps Run and Holmes Run.

Michael Meuller, environmental laboratory manager in the wastewater planning and monitoring division in DPWES, later said there were 20,000 cfu (colony-forming units) per 100 milliliter of E. coli in lake water on May 16. The standard is 235 cfu. E. coli is an indicator of fecal contamination and other disease-bearing pathogens. “I’m not going to say it’s safe,” he said.

Bartlett said his department is working with the Lake Barcroft Watershed Improvement District (WID) to get more baseline testing information, improve communications systems at the pump stations, clear backups at manholes, and install emergency generators at the pump stations.

Lake Barcroft resident Simone Katsas doesn’t think the county is doing enough to correct the problem or prevent future spills.

Based on extensive research and discussions with professional engineers, Katsas discovered flaws in the design of the pump system and pipes, including the lack of system air relieve valves, lack of flexibility in the pump connections, and the lack of a check cut-off valve. She also argued the contractors are using substandard materials in the pipes, resulting in corrosion toxins getting into the lake.

Katsas’ 2-year-old daughter got sick after playing in the lake on May 18, and she didn’t learn until later that there had been sewage spills on May 15 and 16. On May 19, her own testing of the water outside her house showed E. coli levels in excess of the EPA limit for safe swimming. And she said, the water is still not back to its normal color and odor.

“The release of raw sewage into the lake needs to stop immediately,” Katsas said, “I have no confidence in the current contractor and design team. They need to be replaced or the county should bring in a team to properly supervise them.”

Tom Russell, director of the county’s Wastewater Collection Division, noted that the Dewberry engineering company was brought in last month to advise on the sewer-lining project, which is being carried out by Am-Liner East Inc. The pipe connections are being reinforced, so it will be “one solid pipe,” he said.

“Dewberry wasn’t helpful. Bring in someone else,” urged lakefront resident Kimberly Smith. “July 4 is the biggest day in Lake Barcroft, with lots of swimming, boating, and fishing going on. Can you guarantee there won’t be another spillage before July 4?”

“This should never have failed in the first place,” said another resident. “That’s why you pay for inspectors. It’s reprehensible that we’ve had four incidents.” Russell assured the audience there will be people on site 24/7 monitoring the pumping station.

“The county does not realize the magnitude of the problem and the stakes involved in terms of health and property values,” said resident Nazir Baghat, who noted that the 1,000 houses in the community represent a $1 billion investment. Fairfax County needs to invest in better technological solutions to address the problem but cannot be relied upon to do so, he said, so the Lake Barcroft association should hire its own consultants.

Dave Jones complained that “hundreds of thousands of gallons of sewage got into the lack and no one is being held accountable.”

“The April 29 storm had been predicted for several days. Why weren’t you prepared?” added Kay Cooper. “We lost the use of the lake for days. If the contractors had been negligent, we don’t want them working in the county again. It smells bad in a lot of ways.”

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality “hasn’t determined where the liability lies,” said Sarah Baker, DEQ regional enforcement manager. The county can be fined if it’s determined that it did something wrong, she said, although the county can’t be subject to civil liability.

No one knows if anyone’s been harmed, said Neil Eisner. People weren’t notified that it was unsafe to go in or near the water.

Gross said DPWES agreed to call her office and WID when there’s a problem, not rely on email, and WID is working on developing a better system to notify residents.

Because the county damaged private property, said Bill Evans, it should carry out a watershed improvement project of comparable scale to offset the damage.

County officials “do not have the right perspective on this,” said resident George November. “We need to focus on prevention.”

Work under way June 25 at the pumping station on Sleepy Hollow Road.
Attachments:

of course, interesting from an environmental point of view. But even more interesting is these questions: do you really think these health hazards created by failures of aging infrastructure are restricted to Lake Barcroft?
And when water is declared 'safe' that stops long-term environmental effects?

Hey, shit happens.

> it was not immediately detected because the previous storm had disabled the >telephone lines used for automated reporting of pump station malfunctions to the >county’s maintenance crews, Haske says.


This would be good excuse if it was 1950.

Rotating Magneto Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > it was not immediately detected because the
> previous storm had disabled the >telephone lines
> used for automated reporting of pump station
> malfunctions to the >county’s maintenance crews,
> Haske says.
>
>
> This would be good excuse if it was 1950.


Makes you wonder what other infrastructure out there is running on some 300 baud modem somewhere.

Over priced community, old homes, surrounded by spics and arabs.

"While this is all very interesting from an environmental perspective, people should keep in mind that Lake Barcroft is a private lake. Anyone who isn't a Lake Barcroft resident or in the company of a Lake Barcroft resident is a trespasser - whether they are swimming, ice skating, fishing, boating, or just enjoying the view. Therefore, except for those of us affected by the unexplored downstream impacts from the spills, most people are completely unaffected by these events if they simply respect the property rights of those who pay taxes to the Lake Barcroft Watershed Improvement District. And yes, trespassers can be prosecuted. Maybe that realtor who was attacked by a rabid beaver last year would have preferred being arrested."

a. whoever posted this sounds like a real douchebag.

b. said douchebag must be very proud of his/her crap infested lake.

c. I hope douchebag enjoys swimming in the crap he/she so richly deserves, since it matches their personality.

The teenagers are crapping and ejaculating in the lake all summer long, what's the issue?

...
Attachments:

Thanks bros
Attachments:

Herd its a great phishing whole.

This explains why the beavers are angry......

More Info Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Lake Barcroft residents charge county mishandled
> sewage spills
> http://annandaleva.blogspot.com/2014/06/lake-barcr
> oft-residents-charge-county.html
>
> Residents of Lake Barcroft brought a long list of
> complaints to a meeting June 25 convened by Mason
> Supervisor Penny Gross on the recent sewage
> spills.
>
> Emotions ran high as people demanded answers to
> their concerns about health hazards, poor
> engineering decisions, lack of accountability,
> environmental damage, and insufficient
> notification of residents.
>
> There have been four separate spills in the past
> two months, resulting in a total of up to 413,000
> gallons of sewage in the lake. Three of them
> originated at the pumping station on Sleepy Hollow
> Road, which was built in 1959.
>
> The first spill, and by far the largest, occurred
> when temporary pumps at the station failed during
> a storm on April 29. The temporary pumps were in
> use as part of a $1.6 million project to install a
> liner inside the force main along Sleepy Hollow
> Road. Two of the later leaks happened when the
> connection between the force main and pump station
> failed.
>
> Randy Bartlett, deputy director of the Fairfax
> County Department of Public Works and
> Environmental Services (DPWES), said DNA testing
> of water samples showed elevated levels of
> bacteria at various locations around the lake, but
> it couldn’t be determined if they were due to
> the sewage spills or stormwater runoff, since
> there was also bacteria upstream at Tripps Run and
> Holmes Run.
>
> Michael Meuller, environmental laboratory manager
> in the wastewater planning and monitoring division
> in DPWES, later said there were 20,000 cfu
> (colony-forming units) per 100 milliliter of E.
> coli in lake water on May 16. The standard is 235
> cfu. E. coli is an indicator of fecal
> contamination and other disease-bearing pathogens.
> “I’m not going to say it’s safe,” he
> said.
>
> Bartlett said his department is working with the
> Lake Barcroft Watershed Improvement District (WID)
> to get more baseline testing information, improve
> communications systems at the pump stations, clear
> backups at manholes, and install emergency
> generators at the pump stations.
>
> Lake Barcroft resident Simone Katsas doesn’t
> think the county is doing enough to correct the
> problem or prevent future spills.
>
> Based on extensive research and discussions with
> professional engineers, Katsas discovered flaws in
> the design of the pump system and pipes, including
> the lack of system air relieve valves, lack of
> flexibility in the pump connections, and the lack
> of a check cut-off valve. She also argued the
> contractors are using substandard materials in the
> pipes, resulting in corrosion toxins getting into
> the lake.
>
> Katsas’ 2-year-old daughter got sick after
> playing in the lake on May 18, and she didn’t
> learn until later that there had been sewage
> spills on May 15 and 16. On May 19, her own
> testing of the water outside her house showed E.
> coli levels in excess of the EPA limit for safe
> swimming. And she said, the water is still not
> back to its normal color and odor.
>
> “The release of raw sewage into the lake needs
> to stop immediately,” Katsas said, “I have no
> confidence in the current contractor and design
> team. They need to be replaced or the county
> should bring in a team to properly supervise
> them.”
>
> Tom Russell, director of the county’s Wastewater
> Collection Division, noted that the Dewberry
> engineering company was brought in last month to
> advise on the sewer-lining project, which is being
> carried out by Am-Liner East Inc. The pipe
> connections are being reinforced, so it will be
> “one solid pipe,” he said.
>
> “Dewberry wasn’t helpful. Bring in someone
> else,” urged lakefront resident Kimberly Smith.
> “July 4 is the biggest day in Lake Barcroft,
> with lots of swimming, boating, and fishing going
> on. Can you guarantee there won’t be another
> spillage before July 4?”
>
> “This should never have failed in the first
> place,” said another resident. “That’s why
> you pay for inspectors. It’s reprehensible that
> we’ve had four incidents.” Russell assured the
> audience there will be people on site 24/7
> monitoring the pumping station.
>
> “The county does not realize the magnitude of
> the problem and the stakes involved in terms of
> health and property values,” said resident Nazir
> Baghat, who noted that the 1,000 houses in the
> community represent a $1 billion investment.
> Fairfax County needs to invest in better
> technological solutions to address the problem but
> cannot be relied upon to do so, he said, so the
> Lake Barcroft association should hire its own
> consultants.
>
> Dave Jones complained that “hundreds of
> thousands of gallons of sewage got into the lack
> and no one is being held accountable.”
>
> “The April 29 storm had been predicted for
> several days. Why weren’t you prepared?” added
> Kay Cooper. “We lost the use of the lake for
> days. If the contractors had been negligent, we
> don’t want them working in the county again. It
> smells bad in a lot of ways.”
>
> The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality
> “hasn’t determined where the liability
> lies,” said Sarah Baker, DEQ regional
> enforcement manager. The county can be fined if
> it’s determined that it did something wrong, she
> said, although the county can’t be subject to
> civil liability.
>
> No one knows if anyone’s been harmed, said Neil
> Eisner. People weren’t notified that it was
> unsafe to go in or near the water.
>
> Gross said DPWES agreed to call her office and WID
> when there’s a problem, not rely on email, and
> WID is working on developing a better system to
> notify residents.
>
> Because the county damaged private property, said
> Bill Evans, it should carry out a watershed
> improvement project of comparable scale to offset
> the damage.
>
> County officials “do not have the right
> perspective on this,” said resident George
> November. “We need to focus on prevention.”
>
> Work under way June 25 at the pumping station on
> Sleepy Hollow Road.


"Because the county damaged private property, said Bill Evans, it should carry out a watershed improvement project of comparable scale to offset the damage. '

Talk about a cynical ploy to get an unjustified handout. As the story suggests, the only real damage here was to the property owners' sensibilities. The situation will resolve itself in short order and Lake Barcroft will return to its previous condition which, incidentally, is best described as less-than-pristine. And, by the way, I visited Lake Barcroft after reading this article and didn't notice any odors coming from the water. So, let's keep it real folks.

Sewage spills at Lake Barcroft in Fairfax County
http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/virginia/2014/07/01/sewage-lake-barcroft/11946651/

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. (WUSA9) -- The approaching storm is causing concern at Lake Barcroft, where four sewage spills in the past two months have closed the beaches in the private Fairfax County community. Heavy rain on April 29th caused the largest of the four spills which in total dumped 413,000 gallons of sewage into Lake Barcroft, according to Fairfax County officials.

Three of the spills originated at the pumping station on Sleepy Hollow Road, which was built in 1959. An old 20 inch force main runs from the pump station up a hill underneath Sleepy Hollow Road. It handles overflow in the event of storms, but the line has been leaking. A 1.6 million dollar project is underway to install a liner inside the 20 inch force main. However, the backup line which runs above ground is only 12 inches in diameter.

It's unclear why the backup line is significantly smaller than the mainline, and that could be part of the problem.

Fairfax County has hired several contractors to help solve the problems. A county spokesperson who declined an on camera interview said the level of testing on Lake Barcroft has been "unprecedented." The private lake is owned and accessible only to members of the Lake Barcroft Association. Some residents think more should be done to prevent more spills.

Though The Fairfax County Health Department advises against swimming or wading in any streams or lakes, many residents are confident the Lake has been flushed clear of contamination.

Here is a chronological account of the Lake Barcroft sewage spills from Fairfax County:

On June 16th 2014, there was a sanitary overflow from a county sanitary pump station just upstream of Lake Barcroft. It is estimated that about 6,000 gallons of sewage was discharged. Since April 28th the county has experienced four sanitary sewer overflows up stream or adjacent to Lake Barcroft.

The first one occurred during the major rain storm on April 29th. At this time the county was in the midst of rehabilitating the force main serving the Holmes Run pump station, and the temporary pump-around to allow this work was overwhelmed by the intensity of the storm.

The county had tried to get the station back in service immediately before the storm, but a connection on the force main had failed during testing. This force main connection was repaired immediately. It was estimated that 300,000 to 400,000 gallons was discharged from the sanitary sewer system.

The county estimated that about 80 percent of this flow was attributed to rain water entering the system, and during this event the flows over the Barcroft dam were measured in excess of 500,000 gallons per minute.

The second event occurred during the storm of May 15th and 16th. The pumps at the pump station had failed to turn on. Crews responded immediately and adjusted the pump electrical controls to assure proper operation of the pumps.

They were able to limit the amount of the overflow. It was estimated that approximately 3,200 gallons were discharged and the flows over the dam at the time were measured at 1,200,000 gallons per minute.

The third event occurred at a different pump station located near beach 3 on Lake Barcroft on May 18th. This was the result of a controller in the station malfunctioning and it was not immediately detected because the previous storm had disabled the telephone lines used for automated reporting of pump station malfunctions to the county's maintenance crews. Due to the outages, crews were physically checking stations over the weekend and this station was checked around 2:00 PM on Sunday, May 18th and was in good operating order. The failure occurred after that time. The overflow was estimated to be 3,900 gallons. Since this event, an automated, wireless backup communication system has been installed in the station to report any malfunctions to the county's maintenance crews.

The fourth event occurred on Monday, June 17th. Crews were working on the gravity sewer line near the Holmes Run pump station. Flows were being diverted to the pump station to allow for inspection of the gravity line. When the pumps came on, the crews noted sewage coming up through the ground, indicating a leak from the force main serving this pump station. The pump station was shut off and flows were diverted back to the gravity line and clean-up operations began. It was estimated that 6,000 gallons escaped during this event. The force main had been repaired and tested after the April 29th event, and had been operational for about a month. The force main was in service and used during the storm of May 16th. After each event the county undertook water testing at several locations above, below and around the lake.

Geez, why aren't the owners doing a better job of cleaning their @#$% up?

Shit flows downhill....

I know its a privately owned lake, but aren't county and state regulations being violated, what about compliance issues?

Is this why it always stinks when you drive past the dam?

Repairs under way to address sewage spills, Lake Barcroft residents assured
http://annandaleva.blogspot.com/2014/07/repairs-under-way-to-address-sewage.html#comment-form

The repair work to address the recent sewage spills in Lake Barcroft is proceeding despite the apparent lack of activity at the work site in recent days, and residents’ concerns about the possibility of additional sewage spills are unfounded, says Charles W. de Seve, chairman of the board of trustees for the Lake Barcroft Watershed Improvement District (WID). There had been four separate spills since April 29, dumping a total of 413,000 gallons of sewer water into the lake.

Testing has shown “normal levels of bacteria well below the commonwealth’s threshold for lake activity,” reports de Seve in an email sent to Lake Barcroft residents July 8.

One resident had earlier reported seeing from her boat “a plume of something nasty-looking” flowing from the pumping station on Sleepy Hollow Road into the lake near the women’s garden.

“There is no evidence a small ‘plume’ of darker water spotted by kayakers near Holmes Run has anything to do with a sewer discharge and was not visible to WID staff who investigated,” de Seve states.

During a June 26 meeting, hosted by Mason Supervisor Penny Gross, many Lake Barcroft residents expressed frustration with the way Fairfax County officials were handling the sewage spills, which happened during an ongoing project to re-line a sewer force main under Sleepy Hollow Road, resulting in stormwater overwhelming a pumping station on Holmes Run.

County officials assured residents at the meeting that work on fixing the pumping station would be done 24/7 and the project would be finished by July 7. “Not only have workers not been there 24/7, the job is nowhere close to being finished,” the resident says. “It looks to me like nothing much is happening.”

“Actually, the scope of the work has expanded, adding more stability to sewer line joints and giving the lake an extra measure of protection.” De Seve responded in the July 8 email. At the request of county engineers, he said, “a second engineering firm, CH2M Hill, reviewed the re-engineering of the failed pipe joint after the final spill (as suggested in the community meeting). Thus, the delay adds safety and does not signal a new problem nor any failure on the part of Dewberry, the firm that did the re-engineering.”

A tentative schedule now calls for the work on the pumping station to be completed and the pit to be filled in by July 17. The temporary sewer line should be removed and the site cleaned up on July 21.

“While any sewer spill is serious and may temporarily curtail use of the lake, please keep in mind that the recent spills, though carrying bacteria, were almost entirely water—the largest contained over 85 percent stormwater,” de Seve states. “In the weeks since the spills, the flow of new water has diluted and removed whatever sewer bacteria remained.”

Work underway at the pumping station on July 8.
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So I take it that it's still not safe for swimming?

BULLSHIT

those are wealthy home (ie, of stealing gov workers i bet)

lake barcroft IS NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC they call police if you go there

why should the poor of fairfax be suffering no healthcare to pay for the rich to have an extra swimming hole for private use only ?

---------------------------
also, if it's a "sewage problem" of a man made lake of a neighborhood using septic fields - it's their own overflow going in the water - and it happens to every such neighborhood with similar man made lake. it's not county sewage from county lines is what i believe and am pointing out.

i feel sorry for them but that is not on my bill. i'm poor and have way too much on my bill that isn't anything THAT I SPENT - which is their spending - already

try clorox

Mark Spitz Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So I take it that it's still not safe for
> swimming?

I wouldn't even think of swimming in there...
Attachments:

Any updates? I've dying to go for a swim in the lake all summer. We good to go?

I saw today that they have disconnected and broken down the temporary line they had running up Sleepy Hollow Rd. They have also back filled in around the pumping station.

Vienna man Wrote:
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> Over priced community, old homes, surrounded by
> spics and arabs.


Exactly