Why is Queen's Creek So Darn Dirty?

Because I'm the park interpreter at New Quarter Park, I find myself playing in Queen's Creek often. Only thing is, according to the EPA's National Water Quality Inventory, recreation is not a State Supported Use of the waterway.

I'm also an oyster grower for the Virginia Oyster Restoration Project and my oyster float is stationed at New Quarter's floating dock on Queen's Creek. The same Water Quality Inventory notes that the water quality doesn't support aquatic life or shellfishing.

When my oyster growing partner Jordan Westenhaver and I go to check on our oysters, we always wear clothes that we know will be stained. Although some of the shirts and pants I've worn on our work days have been through the wash several times, the water stains remain. Here's a photo of the oysters we raised last year in Queen's Creek. We scrubbed them, but they still look pretty bad.

How is it that a little creek like Queen's, nestled in a watershed that is largely wooded with no known pollution source, can be is so darn dirty? Today, I saw a posting on Facebook of reef balls in the Lynnhaven River, the river that drains the most populated and industrial parts of the City of Virginia Beach. The reef balls were covered with a thick shell of healthy oysters, oysters that look to be a lot cleaner than ours.

Makes me wonder: Can we launch a program like Lynnhaven River Now to restore a legendary Williamsburg/York County stream?

P.S. In the words of Lily Tomlin, "Oh. Nevermind." See the answer in Part II of Why is Queen's Creek So Darn Dirty?