The discoloured snow has been caused by a chemical emitted from a century old paper mill and is non-toxic but can cause skin and eye irritation so it should be avoided
Brown-tinted snow has appeared in a small town in Maine on Tuesday and is causing skin irritation.
The discoloured snow is caused by a chemical emitted from a 100-year-old paper mill in the small town of Rumford and, while it is non-toxic, it can cause skin and eye irritation. The waste product itself is alkaline with a pH of 10, but the state's Department of Environmental Protection conducted tests on the brown snow on Tuesday afternoon, and found the pH level had fallen just below eight.
A local Facebook group said the discoloured mass was "due to a malfunction at the Mill there was a release of spent black liquor which resulted in precipitation of brown or tan coloured snow." Officials advised residents to keep pets away from this snow, amid hopes that forecasted rain later this week will wash away most of the black liquor and clean up the ground.
The brown snow is a pH just below 8 and should be avoided.
The post shared on social media explained: "In order to help alleviate public concerns, the Mill has agreed to pay for third party testing which will be carried out independently, with snow samples that will be sent to a lab with protected chain of custody." Based on guidance from DEP we are confident that the public safety concerns are minimal at this time."
ND Paper Rumford Division's website states the paper mill was "founded as the Oxford Paper Company in 1901, the Rumford Mill has produced some of the most reputable products in the history of the American paper industry."
The discoloured snow was caused by a chemical emitted from an 100-year-old paper mil
Black liquor is produced during industrial paper manufacture, when wood is converted into wood pulp and then into paper. A business owner told News Center Maine that the snow is "everywhere", adding: "Very dirty snow! Looks like the snow does in springtime, though actually, it's kind of like a reddish-brown colour."
It comes after an aerial photograph showed a mysterious brown slick in the sea off the coast of west Wales earlier this year. The alarming sight near Aberystwyth was captured just after 6.30pm on Sunday, June 16, hot on the heels of torrential downpours the previous day. With a pollution forecast warning in place for Aberystwyth South Beach from Friday to Sunday, there were fears of compromised water quality due to the heavy rainfall
Huwel Manley from Natural Resources Wales commented: "We received one report of discoloured water in the sea at Borth over the weekend. One of our officers investigated and found that some discoloured water was entering the sea at Aberystwyth Harbour, but the discolouration was passing."
He added: "It is our understanding that there were no discharges from storm overflow discharges over the weekend associated with Dwr Cymru assets. The brown discolouration was most likely caused by heavy rainfall in the Rheidol and Ystwyth catchments which resulted in increasing water levels early Sunday morning causing sediment to be pushed out into the bay.", reported Wales Online.
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