cecil writes: I live overlooking the Meadow Creek as it runs through Greenbrier Park, and this morning I looked down to find that the creek is green. Violently, nauseously green. This seems wrong. Does anyone have any idea why it might be green, if it is green all over the city, and whom in the city administration one might contact about this greenness?
Yuck. 01/12/02 Update: Today’s Progress reports that it was just a dye, used to trace the path of some water.
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on four six and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #
Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
Archive for Sideblog »
Algae is the only thing that comes to mind for me. Is it the actual water, or something floating on top of it?
chemicals from snow removal??
Get some of that in a jar. I’ll bet we can find somebody to test that.
Phosphorus and other chemicals that run off of our lawns, farms, and streets end up in the streams and provide food for algae. More food than they need. And you end up with too much algae. This imbalance destroys the ecosystem, since it chokes out everything else.
Who knows what happened to that creek, I havent seen it. Maybe it’s lime jello.
The pond next to my house has turned various shades of green over the years due to a variety of pond-scum problems. January is one time of year when we are scum-free. It’s too cold for this stuff to proliferate.
And anyway, it starts slow and builds up – it doesn’t appear overnight, and you just don’t get stuff like this in moving water.
Could it be a chemical spill or dump? When people have the old antifreeze (which is green) flushed out of their car radiators, what does the garage do with it?
Janis Jaquith
http://www.radioessays.com
It was a harmless dye put into a pipe to determine where the pipe discharged. The rest of the story is in today’s Daily Progress.
Kevin Cox