In a July 26, 2015 article, Xpress mused whether the Hominy Creek Greenway in West Asheville was going to the dogs. In light of a recent online article posted to waterkeeper.org, it appears that the true question may have been, quite literally, “Is Hominy Creek going to sh*t?”
According to the article, written by French Broad Riverkeeper Hartwell Carson, a team of volunteers working along Hominy Creek — a tributary of the French Broad River — have traced high levels of E. coli bacteria taken in samples from the creek to a local concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) upstream from the Hominy Creek Greenway.
“As we steered our canoe around the bend of the creek, the problem became immediately clear,” writes Hartwell in his article, posted on Thursday, March 24. “The pungent odor that I have grown all too accustomed to when sampling sewage and animal waste hit us like a brick wall.”
A report was sent to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, and investigators with the NCDEQ, the United States Environmental Protection Agency and North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation are currently investigating the situation and the potentially responsible company.
Read Hartwell Carson’s full article on waterkeeper.org.
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