The sparkling waters of the Brodhead Creek running through East Stroudsburg in the Poconos are not as pristine as they seem, officials were warned Tuesday night.
The creek is so contaminated in spots with high levels of fecal coliform that it does not meet standards for swimming or recreational use, said Edie Stevens of the Brodhead Watershed Association.
And the culprit appears not to be leaking septic systems but a bad habit people have acquired: feeding the ducks.
The association, which has been monitoring the Pocono watershed for 25 years, landed a three-year, $62,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, to find the source of the problem and correct it.
The grant is being matched by local funding from East Stroudsburg, Stroudsburg, Stroud Township, and Monroe County.
One of the prime spots of contamination appears to be near Dansbury Park, East Stroudsburg’s community park which is near the creek. Another potential hot spot is behind the Salvation Army in East Stroudsburg, an apparent favorite spot for feeding ducks on the creek.
Stevens said feeding attracts ever larger groups of ducks that generate more waste. Public education is key in solving the problem, she said.
The association, a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to protecting and improving water resources and the environment in the Brodhead and Cherry creek watershed, is also planning a series of demonstrations locally that will showcase the value of planting rain gardens and buying rain barrels.
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