Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Mystery sludge: What is going on in the Milwaukee River?


A thick, slimy substance was spotted floating on the water in downtown Milwaukee.

Office workers captured the images during the snowstorm and reached out to WISN 12 News on Facebook.
Pedro Rodriguez saw it from his office window but still isn't sure exactly what he saw.
"It looked like grease, just like bacon grease," he said.
"I saw this yellow swirling scum," said Josh Gordon, who walks the stretch of river every day.
"I haven't seen anything that color before. Cause it was really yellow. It was, yuck," Gordon said.
Several people took photos, but by Tuesday morning, it was gone, without a trace.
So, then, added to the mystery of what it was and where it came from, suddenly the question was, where did it go?
"A total mystery, total mystery," Rodriguez said.
But not to everyone.
Ellie Kirkwood of the River Revitalization Foundation said there's a simple explanation.
"It looks like it's just some slush that's just starting to freeze and fold over on itself," Kirkwood said.
Some dissolved, and the rest turned to ice.
It was a natural phenomenon, she said, caused by the perfect mix of temperature, wind, and a swollen sediment-filled river -- with a unique look.
"And that yellow color is kind of the color of our water here," Kirkwood said.
In the end, it really didn't go anywhere. It just turned into a thin layer of ice on the river.
WISN 12 News was told that both the Wisconsin Department of Resources and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District got calls from people wondering what was on the river.
Both agencies sent crews to test the water to make sure there was no contamination or spill. They say it was all natural, and there is nothing to worry about.

No comments:

Post a Comment