The reason why this section of the creek was so nasty is that it had easy unobservable access from Compton Road. Generations of dumpers and party animals entered this section of the creek and did whatever they wanted. However, in the late summer of 2002, the good folks at UOSA hung a cable across the trail and this should stop the worst of the depredations.
The Compton Road bridge area is also the site of a sewage pumping station that transfers human waste from the Little Rocky Run watershed to the treatment plant on the other side of Route 28. In the summer of 2002 an unfortunate accident during the expansion of this station led to the discharge of some 200,000 gallons of raw sewage into Little Rocky Run. The sewage devastated the creek from Compton Road to Bull Run Creek, but it has since recovered.
Just the same, the creek itself is very pretty in this section and runs along a high bluff for much of its course here. A photographic summary of the main channel begins on Page 3.1. There is some erosion along the banks in various places.
The sewage spill referenced above originated from this manhole, about 50 yards upstream from the pumping station. The white stuff is probably lime or some other chemical placed to neutralize the sewage that gushed out of the manhole on June 10, 2002.
While the sewage spill was maddening, it was clear to me (Ned Foster) that it was the result of an accident. This conclusion was also reached by a very competent investigation by the Virginia DEQ.
It should be noted that the Compton Road bridge was built over a ford. Eye-witnesses say that people used to drive their cars into the creek here and wash them.
