For centuries, industrial enterprises set up shop along the banks of the Elizabeth River, many feeding local shipbuilding by making tar-based creosote to preserve wood.

These substances easily found their way into the river and its tributaries, polluting the water with chemicals harmful for humans and marine creatures.

Paradise Creek in Portsmouth is one of those waterways. Situated along the Elizabeth River’s Southern Branch, the creek also served as a dumping ground for the nearby Norfolk Naval Shipyard during the two world wars.