Henrico County officials said Friday that they will help Winchester Green homeowners clean up two ponds in which more than 1,000 fish died.
Details still were being worked out late Friday afternoon, but the cleanup could get under way as early as today.
"Right now, obviously, I'm very happy," said Charles Small, manager of the Winchester Green Association, a homeowners group.
Small was less happy earlier in the day when, four days after the kill was reported, he was having trouble finding help in getting rid of the stinky catfish, carp and other carcasses.
By midafternoon, Henrico officials were devising a plan.
"I'm very pleased that the county is helping to coordinate the cleanup," said Tuckahoe District Supervisor Patricia S. O'Bannon.
About 1,100 fish died in the ponds in the Short Pump area of western Henrico. The fish kill was reported Monday to the state Department of Environmental Quality.
The cause of the incident is in dispute.
DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden said the fish apparently were killed by chlorinated water that gushed into the ponds from a break in a nearby waterline Jan. 27.
By the time the DEQ got word of the kill, the dead fish were too decomposed to test for a cause of death, Hayden said.
The dead fish pose "no threat to people or the environment," Hayden added. "Our investigation is over."
Arthur D. Petrini, Henrico's public utilities director, said waterlines have broken before without causing fish kills. The notion that the recent break killed the Winchester Green fish "is still speculation," he said.
Small, the association manager, said, "I'm absolutely sure" the break is the cause. "If you have ever had aquarium fish, you put them in tap water, and they will be dead by morning."
The two ponds are on 6 acres that the association is working to acquire from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which took over the land two decades ago when the subdivision's developer had financial problems, Small said.
Small said he also was talking to FDIC officials to see if they would help in the cleanup.
The fish kill turned two popular ponds into scary eyesores.
"It's the whole reason I bought this house, to have the beauty and serenity and wildlife in my backyard," said Mary Wolf, who lives by one of the ponds. "So you can imagine I'm devastated to see the death of everything that lives in this pond."
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