State tests of Henrico County waters Monday afternoon found chlorine levels that were illegally high but much lower than the levels found in one pond that same morning, officials announced today.
The tests are part of a state Department of Environmental Quality investigation into the killing of about 1,100 fish in two ponds in Winchester Green in far western Henrico.
DEQ officials believe the fish died because chlorinated water rushed into the ponds when a nearby drinking-water line broke Jan. 27. The fish kill was reported three days later.
Henrico officials say they aren't sure the water-line break is the cause.
It's unclear why the Monday-afternoon tests showed lower chlorine levels than tests taken several hours earlier that same day, DEQ spokesman Bill Hayden said. But it's possible, he said, that chlorine in the water is dissipating naturally.
"It shows that there is more chlorine in the water than there should be," Hayden said. "That's what we would like to figure out the reason for and what needs to be done about it."
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