Red waterway in Norfolk caused by spill; DEQ investigating
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — A branch of the Elizabeth River in Norfolk turned orange/red, not green, ahead of St. Patrick’s Day.
City officials said it was due to a spill of iron oxide into a storm drain on Thursday in the Ingleside neighborhood. Norfolk Fire-Rescue and the city’s Public Works Stormwater Division were notified Thursday night and found the source of the spill.
“Dumped into a small little water body like that, and especially since it was a dye, it has that dramatic effect when you look at it and it’s bright red,” Joe Rieger, Elizabeth River Project Deputy Director of Restoration, said.
Officials said the iron oxide used to dye mulch is nonhazardous.
“The dye itself is a nontoxic dye, so it should not have adverse effects on the wildlife. Obviously, it’s having adverse effects, probably on the water quality. So we definitely see a reduction in the clarity of the water and that could have some repercussions about the amount of light that’s reaching the bottom of the river, but our hope is that it’s going to clear up probably in the next day or two,” he said.
The Elizabeth River Project said “authorities have deemed it non-hazardous based on thorough analysis, including a review of the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and additional research.”
However, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality and the city are investigating the cause and any potential impacts.
The nonprofit Elizabeth River Project said on Friday that an empty 275-gallon tote of mulch dye was found in the backyard of a home. A WAVY viewer sent us a photo of the dye running down the driveway into the storm drain.
Neil Boden noticed his backyard changing from brown to a bright red/orange color.
“Wow, that’s weird. That’s crazy,” he said.
He posted on social media about the incident. That caught the attention of officials.
“You have to be very careful that you don’t put anything, obviously, into the Elizabeth River. The only thing they want going in there is rainwater and runoff from rainwater,” he said. “It’s on the wetlands, it’s protected. And I was concerned that it might be something toxic. So I made the post on Facebook.”
The city says it issued a notice of violation for the illicit discharge to a resident of the home.
“This incident serves as a visual reminder to residents of the importance of properly disposing of materials and not allowing anything other than rainwater into storm drains,” the city added.
Rieger added: “I think that the take-home message for this is a lot of people need to realize that on their streets, those grates that go down in the curbs, those all go to the river… Don’t put oil or grease or leaves and things like that down those storm drains. It should just be the water coming from the streets. And I think sometimes people think that that goes to Hampton Road sanitation district, maybe, and it gets treated, but unfortunately, it doesn’t…This type of material could easily be taken to one of the city transfer stations and disposed of properly if that’s what they were trying to do.”
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WAVY.com.
