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Stuff in Sacramento River is algae, not human waste

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 27, 2008 at 11:54 am

From the Chico Enterprise-Record:

Like some kind of April Fool’s joke in August, nature had the last laugh with Glenn County and state officials who momentarily worried Tuesday that the stuff floating down the Sacramento River might be human waste — at least two miles of it.

Though it turned out to be a form of algae that State Park Ranger Tim Davis said indeed does look like feces. Officials initially took the call as a health hazard, accentuated by the annual Labor Day float is just days away.

Still, for all the worry, the situation also elicited a round of chuckles and puns from more than one person before the reality was clarified.

As Davis recounted, it all began around 2 p.m. when a fisherman reported seeing a “clumpy brown material” that looked like waste in the water near the boat ramp at Irvine Finch River Access, south of the Highway 32 Sacramento River bridge. The fisherman — who is a river guide — also reported what appeared to be toilet paper, was stuck to and dried on the bottom of his boat.

Though Davis said he was fairly certain the stuff was not human waste, he gingerly went ahead and physically checked the clumps out, just to be sure. “It felt like algae, but it certainly looks like the material it was thought to be,” Davis said with a hint of laughter in his voice.

More from Chico’s Enterprise-Record by clicking here.

August 27, 2008 · Filed Under Weird & Wacky Water News

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