[UPDATE Friday] Large Amount of Virulent Green Liquid Flowing Into Humboldt Bay Turns Out to Be Part of a Test
About 4:45 p.m., an unknown substance was discovered flowing into the Humboldt Bay near the Samoa Bridge from a drain. A Humboldt County Hazmat team is on the scene.
The first reports are that the substance may be anti-freeze but that is unconfirmed at this time. The test shows it is toxic, according to Humboldt Bay firefighters on the scene.
So far it has traveled about 100 yards to the boat launch and it is heavy so it is sitting on the bottom of the Bay.
The Coast Guard has been called, according to Humboldt Bay Fire Battalion Chief Tim Citro.
Efforts are underway to identify and stop a green fluid flowing into Humboldt Bay. The white boom has nothing to do with the current spill, according to first reports. [Photos by Bobby Kroeker]
The green liquid had spread through the area when it was first discovered. [Photo by Doug Neusbaum]
[Photo by Bobby Kroeker]
Although the first sight of green liquid flowing into the Bay was concerning, Citro said that later information led them to understand that the liquid was actually a dye that was being used by the City and the dye was part of a planned test.
UPDATE Friday: The City of Eureka responded to inquires from the North Coast Journal by saying, “On Thursday December 3rd 2019 the City of Eureka Public Works was conducting maintenance on a section of it’s storm drain pipe network east of the Highway 255 Bridge just north of Waterfront Drive. During this maintenance, a bright green dye was used to trace the stormwater flow. This dye is designed to trace water flow and is non-toxic and not harmful to Humboldt Bay. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.”
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
Yikes!
Double yikes that there is already a boom from some previous incident.
Eureka could be so nice.
I think Shak’s comment at the bottom bears repeating:
‘ “the first test that showed toxicity early on is “a very basic test.” The test frequently gives the result of a substance appearing toxic, he explained.”
Is this the same universal test that all the agencies have used when reporting on toxic wastes at grow sites?
What’s the name and brand of the test?
Are there other brand tests available?
Could university students create a more sound testing system if they had the funding?
Who audits the tests for accuracy? ‘
[edit]
This is a test for leaks and blockages, it’s not a test for chemicals.
This is all bullshit. City at the last minute says it is not toxic. Bullshit.
Wheres the aquadam to provide site isolation?
Reads like the beginning of a bad horror movie, the Blob or something.
Prob indoor grower dumping their pesticides.
Too bad the focus is on organic farmers in the hills who actually have used safe fertilizers/oils while indoor growers import illegal chems like AVID from oregon&spray like crazy.
Not to mention all the chemmie ferts from local companies like advanced nutrients.
I will never eat anything from the bay after seeing the crap people dump down backyard drains and curbsides in eureka. Was threatened when told neighbors not to & cops didnt care when i called.
Oysters are gonna be giving folks bad cancer&reproductive problems, all that bunker c fuel that sunk to bottom of bay in 97 oil spill is still there, gross! Poor fishes and birds and seals!!!!
i stay away from the bridge and the bay and the wastewater treatment plants. i feel sick every time i go near them.
Soooooo, I dont think antifreeze has anything to do with growing plants….any kind of plant. And that looks a LOT like antifreeze to me. The oyster beds are right on the other side of the bridge right? Man that’s shitty of someone to do.
Fortunately, the Oysters are on the ‘other side’ of the bay.
Upstream from that point, the water goes up into Freshwater Slough,
downstream it goes into the main bay circulation.
IMHO: Probably 50 Gallons of anti-freeze (ethylene glycol) into the bay will disappear quickly.
Likely come back a few days later… you will probably find ‘non-detect’.
The coast guard (or whoever) will probably do more ‘damage’ messing around.
That would be an awful lot of antifreeze… did someone dump a couple drums of used antifreeze instead of paying the dump to take it? did some large boat drain its bilge after a leak into what they thought was a sewer but was actually a storm drain, or without knowing they’d popped a coolant hose? It’s a nice dark green, so it’s not very diluted by other water. That’s way more than any highway-capable land vehicle uses, or any person who is not a mechanic would be likely to have around.
Grab a UV flashlight and start looking around every drain into that system…
that doesn’t look like anti freeze
Does to me. Undiluted.
Kinda does. https://www.google.com/search?q=antifreeze+spill&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj50Z-bitPfAhVLXKwKHZP5CeIQ_AUIDygC&biw=1242&bih=605#imgrc=0fdbu2SJTJ-jWM:
Figuring out where that drain is coming from could it appears to be on the Eureka side so it could be a storm drain so I would start looking at some of that mechanic shops up there and people that are dealing with a lot of automobiles somebody probably dump something into one of those old storm drains and now it’s coming out it does appear to be a whole lot so it have to be barrels and barrels damn might be a good idea to put Aqua dams in surround it if it’s heavier than the water it could help retain it for a while good idea hopefully get a handle on it soon
Irresponsible. That stuff is toxic to everything. I wonder if the dredge can suck most of it or if there something to absorb it. Come Saturday there’s rain expected so little time to do something.
They still could have put a hint out to the public that some green 🤬🤬🤬🤬 is going to be flowing into your bay ,don’t worry be happy.😁
True, true. One of those things that is a relief but sure didn’t need the scare.
Looks like its time to call Aquaman.
Moral of the story: Next time your test involves dumping large quantities of dye into stormwater drains, mention this in advance to agencies that might get calls about large quantities of dye coming from stormwater drains.
It’s probably the same or very closely related to the dye used in antifreeze… It’s a pretty common dye.
What we have here is a failure to communicate. ie. Cool Hand Luke
My thought too, nice one s.
Great job once again City of Eureka staff. Perhaps notifying the relevant agencies and the general public might have been a little onerous on your inboxes, but you are responsible for this panic and hazmat response, which isn’t cheap by the way. Next time, let us all know what’s going on in advance, so that good citizens aren’t calling 911 over a chemical weapons attack.
It’s not like this was something they decided to do this morning. Planned maintenance is just that; planned. Yeesh Eureka, at least let the PD and FD know a test is about to begin so people hanging around down there don’t lose their minds over it.
Ahhh, Fluorescein dye, used by hydrologists the world over to trace hidden water courses and by beginning chemistry or geology students to dye campus fountains GREEN as a prank.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorescein
We cavers used it in the Marble Mountains and elsewhere in CA to trace water flow in Caves (under an M.O.U. with the Forest Service, so it was all on the up and up).
As far as the comment above, about it being “toxic to everything”, the studies I reviewed after a quick search, said it’s Not Toxic to Fish, see abstract below:
Toxicity of Rhodamine and Fluorescein Sodium to Fish…
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1577/1548-8640%281969%2931%5B139%3ATORBAF%5D2.0.CO%3B2?journalCode=uzpf20
Here’s an interesting study about the safety of using Fluorescein dye to highlight bacterial infections in aquaculture fish and it looks like it’s also considered as “safe”.
Determining the safety and suitability of fluorescein dye for characterization of skin ulcerations in cultured Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090123210000986
Anyhow, it may have some toxicity, nearly everything does, but my personal experience tells me it’s basically harmless, as it flushes through whatever hydraulic system fast enough to not cause lasting harm.
Yes – it’s amazingly potent – even in extreme dilution it’s visible with a uv lamp at night. It breaks down fairly quickly too…..
Dang, nothing to complain about. Sheesh.
Mister X by chance were you spelunking in the 80’s at the Big Foot Meatgrinder… and you live off Indianola Rd? I did a pratice descent in Trinidad with you and others. Cant remember your name but I bought a small sailboat from a ranger who worker at Carlsbad Caverns and he remembers you(back when I remembered your name). You had 3D slides of your trip in the cave.
Paul
City should have said something…and maybe get some facts…
Correct! A lot of public money was wasted because they were not informed. A couple of phone calls would have saved dinero.
This all is so humboldt 😂😂😂😂 it’s a spill, hazmat on scene, it’s toxic, no it’s a planned dye drill, hazmat has no clue, City doesnt bother give heads up 😂😂😂 all is well.
what test? the courthouse PCE plume outfall is west of the bridge and that case is not at this phase of tracer testing. there is no current testing going on unless this is Building department permit activities related to the proposed trailer park which of coarse is top secret state of the art development. there is going to be some regret here on part of who is in charge.
I take responsibility for talking smack way before it was due but….its not April 1st yet. Communication is key.
Part of the great green future plan
The ridiculous part is that the Hazmat team that responds to these is from Humboldt Bay Fire, the City of Eureka run Fire dept. They didn’t let their OWN fire dept. know of the test in advance?
Why should we believe them?
Wouldn’t someone be monitoring the dye or have notified the other agencies if they were actually testing the drains.
Shut down all government.
We either restore local government. Or submit to global governance.
Let’s hope the source was the drainwater system and not the sewage system.
Kym, I’m not sure “virulent” is the best adjective to use here, particularly for an unknown substance that might not even be harmful. It seems a bit like hyperbole or fear-mongering, unless there’s another definition of virulent that I’m not aware of.
At the time I posted, the information we had was that the substance had posted toxic. It was not until later we learned differently. And, virulent can mean “disagreeable to the senses.” https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/virulent
I’m sorry, Kym. But I have to agree with Cy, Bad choice of word.
vir·u·lent
/ˈvir(y)ələnt/Submit
adjective
1.
(of a disease or poison) extremely severe or harmful in its effects.
synonyms: poisonous, toxic, venomous, noxious, deadly, lethal, fatal, dangerous, harmful, injurious, pernicious, damaging, destructive;
maybe the City should have their job properly. they obviously have no idea what they are doing and put too much in the pipe. and if it was a sewer pipe, that’s not good. when looking at other similar studies in other Cities, you find they have to collect water samples and analyze them to find the tracer because you can see it in the water.
Job description has been/is the missing part of the equation.
Hard to demand they do their job if we don’t know what it is.
One of the synonyms listed in the definition you gave is “toxic…” and we had just been told it had tested toxic. That alone would justify it. But virulent can also mean unpleasant to the senses which is the meaning I was intending. The green had a particularly toxic, unnatural LOOK.
I do my best to make sure that language I use means the same thing to most people that I intend it to. But, I can’t always know everyone’s particular take on a word. But I’m comfortable if standard dictionaries offer the choice I use.
This is a cut and paste from the SDS of the material used.
“6 Accidental release measures
Personal precautions, protective equipment and emergency procedures: Wear protective clothing.
Environmental precautions:
Material is approved for controlled release for certain water tracing applications. Refer to any and all applicable
state or municipal regulations to determine tracer study requirements.
Uncontrolled release of this colorant to surface waters should be avoided.”
I guess that answers why there was no notification. it was illegal to perform without control.
Thank you.
“the first test that showed toxicity early on is “a very basic test.” The test frequently gives the result of a substance appearing toxic, he explained.”
Is this the same universal test that all the agencies have used when reporting on toxic wastes at grow sites?
What’s the name and brand of the test?
Are there other brand tests available?
Could university students create a more sound testing system if they had the funding?
Who audits the tests for accuracy?
Nice catch. How many follow up tests show the first being wrong?
Some sort of petroleum products have been discharging into the bay from that storm drain for over a month. There is an overpowering smell of petroleum fumes. The city needs to find the source – yes, they should have informed their fellow agencies, but hopefully this will lead to a solution. This has been going on for way too long.
“…the test frequently gives the result of a substance appearing toxic…” (unsaid portion of the statement:) “…when it’s not…”. WTF? Why is a government agency that has the power to charge people with the crime of dumping hazardous waste, fine them and make felons out of them, even using such a test?
How many people have pleaded to charges they knew they were innocent of, paid fines and accepted a conviction on their record, because they couldn’t afford to fight the charges based on this “frequently” wrong test?
WTF?
waste oil by definition is hazardous waste without testing it.
“How many people have pleaded to charges they knew they were innocent of, paid fines and accepted a conviction on their record, because they couldn’t afford to fight the charges . . .”
Way too many. Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.
Deception can only take place when there is a lack of knowledge. Deception has three steps: Offer, acceptance, performance.