The city of Upper Arlington said a scheduled dye test turned creek water bright fluorescent green Friday. The test examined the city’s storm and sanitary sewers.
Some residents in Upper Arlington were concerned, Friday morning, when they noticed a creek in their backyard was fluorescent green.
Eric Walton, who has lived on Walhaven Court for 35 years, said he has never seen the creek turn bright green. Walton said at first he thought the green color was a prank.
“I mean, if a kid had thrown in a dye packet or something, this is a lot. This is several miles worth of creek.”
The creek comes from underground at Johnston Road near Walton's home. He was concerned the change in color was due to algae or a chemical spill.
Upper Arlington spokespersons Mark Kelsey said a fluorescent dye was purposefully placed in the water.
"That dye test provides valuable information for us to discern whether or not there’s any leakage from the storm sewers into the sanitary lines," Kelsey said.
Kelsey said the test uncovered some leaks from the storm sewers into the sanitary lines.
“Which we do not like to see, but that’s the purpose of the test so that we can fix some very, very, very old infrastructure.”
Kelsey said the city will repair the leaks.