WICU12

It's thick and brown and rippled.  It has large spots of white mixed in and it has a chemical smell.   CLICK FOR VIDEO  It's a substance floating on Edinboro Lake and it prompted an investigation Wednesday morning by volunteer fire departments and the Erie County HAZMAT crew.

"The initial reports came from Washington Township workers who said they had some potential paint in the finger here that goes into Edinboro Lake,.  Initially when we arrived, it definitely showed signs of possibly being latex paint maybe some oil," said Edinboro VFD Assistant Chief Jason Dahle.

Pools of the the brown and white substance could be found at different spots along the lake.   The response teams loaded absorbent materials into boats to try to contain the substance. They believed someone may have dumped pollutants into the water.

"We took all the precautions just on the off-chance that it was, to prevent  any further damage and fish deaths and anything like that.  Better to be pro-active than reactive," said Dahle.

Samples of the mysterious muck were taken and sent to a nearby lab.  It turned out the substance is not oil, paint, or any type of chemical.  It's all natural.  It's algae that formed overnight.  The news amazed the emergency responders. 

"The brown looked like some kind of oil.  The white actually looked like rippled latex house paint.  And to this point, it still looks like rippled latex house paint.  But all the tests have come back negative and they're all saying it's some type of algae," said Dahle.

Dahle has lived along the lake for eight years. He says never has he seen algae that looks like paint and smells like chemicals. But he is glad that this mystery on Edinboro Lake is now over.

Firefighters were told the algae will have no negative effects on humans. However, Edinboro Lake was already closed to swimmers due to a extremely high bacteria count.

John Last