Knowing what I do about Marley Creek, I was more than a bit squeamish on Friday about wading into it.

Reporter Sean Patrick Norris had spent the last several months sorting out the facts behind the three permanently closed creeks in north county. The one underlying truth he found was this: Our creeks are public sewers.

They are filled with bacteria that comes from human and animal waste and a whole range of other pollution problems.

The bacteria counts recorded by county health testing are off the charts, several times the acceptable levels. Marley, Furnace and Rock creeks are the only ones in the county under permanent...