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Sludge not detrimental

It may not be pretty, but a patch of yellow-orange goo discovered on the shore in Blind Bay is not harmful.

It may not be pretty, but a patch of yellow-orange goo discovered on the shore in Blind Bay is not harmful.

Four water samples were taken in the 2001-2022  block of Eagle Bay Road Monday, March 10 by Brian Gregory, an Interior Health protection officer, who was responding to a complaint from a Blind Bay resident.

“We have the sample results of four environmental tests and they all indicate there is no presence of sewage in the samples,” said Jessy Bhatti, another IH health protection officer Friday. “I don’t know exactly what it is because we don’t do our own tests, but it’s likely the result of groundwater rising to the surface.”

Carol Danyluk, a senior environmental protection officer with Ministry of the Environment,  concurs: “It is an iron precipitate that is the byproduct of a metabolic reaction by bacteria, present in the water. These bacteria utilize the iron present in the water and produce an iron oxide precipitate or “rust” which is typically bright orange and can be fuzzy or slimy.”

Danyluk says its occurrence is a problem esthetically because it will stain clothing, sinks and bathtubs but is not harmful to terrestrial plants, animals or humans.