Really stinks.

"Horrible," said Wisdom Pharaoh, who lives in a McDougald Terrace apartment nearby.

Others in the neighborhood describe it as "Dirty, nasty"; "rotten cabbage"; "acetic acid"; "strange odors and burning eyes." No one knows where it comes from, but the smell goes into nearby Burton School, and as far away as Briggs Avenue and Fayetteville Street.

"Smells like death," Pharaoh said. "Police have been called to see if there were any dead bodies in the creek."

Some people literally get sick on the odor, and the condition has been going on at least since the 1980s. The city and Durham Housing Authority have heard repeated complaints. About 18 months ago, residents and Durham CAN (Congregations, Associations and Neighborhoods) began investigating. This week, they had a public meeting to spur some action.

"That site does appear to have water-quality issues," said John Cox of the city stormwater quality office. "A little bit more severe than we would expect."

At this week's meeting, attended by about 50 citizens, water-quality officials and state Rep. Paul Luebke, comments mostly concerned Brenntag -- a chemical distributor upstream on Pettigrew Street. No one from Brenntag attended, but the company has told CAN it is willing to meet soon.

The Brenntag site, previously known as Southchem (Southchem is a Brenntag subsidiary), has a history of hazardous discharges and fires, and state investigators found 10 carcinogens in soil and groundwater beneath the site in 1998.

Many people have assumed Brenntag is the odor's source, said CAN organizer Joe Elmoff, "but we don't know that for sure."

Foul smells could also come from aged, leaking sewer lines, said Hope Taylor of the nonprofit Clean Water for North Carolina. Contamination, Cox said, is common in parts of Durham developed ever since the 1800s. But it could also be from somewhere else or from multiple sources.

"We have to gather all the facts," said organizer Susan Elmoff. "We're all lay people at this."

Third Fork Creek has high bacteria levels near McDougald Terrace, and downstream in Forest Hills, Cox said, and bacteria indicate hazardous pollution. Danny Smith of the state water quality division said that, following a complaint, his office inspected the Brenntag site; the results should be available by the end of this month.

The meeting closed with citizens and city staff planning to meet with Brenntag after the state results come in; and then to report at another public meeting. Meantime, residents near the creek are going to monitor air and water quality.

"Third Fork Creek runs through a lot of neighborhoods," Pharaoh said, "and then into Jordan Lake, which affects a much greater population."

The CAN project is coming along at the same time residents in other parts of Durham are raising alarms about pollution in other streams feeding Jordan and Falls Lake.

"This is the time," said Pharaoh, who initiated the CAN project. "I am exuberant right now."