UPDATE: Ministry confirms food dye from contractor turned Markham creek bright green
'They didn't know anything about it,' resident says about city, ministry

YorkRegion.com
April 4, 2018
Tim Kelly

A day after she had sought answers to the mystery of her bright green creek, a Markham resident got the answer she was looking for.

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change said it had received three calls from residents about Exhibition Creek growing bright green and that its Spills Action Centre (SAC) had confirmed through the City of Markham Works department that there were patches of green in the creek.

"The City has explained that the cause of the creek turning green was a food grade dye used by a contractor hired by York Region for trunk sewer repair. The contractor Michels Canada Co. used Cole-Parmer fluorescent yellow/green dye tablets to detect water leaks by way of pressure tests on the municipality’s bypass system," said Lindsay Davidson, spokesperson for the ministry.

"In disconnecting the pipes following the pressure test approximately 40, 000 gallons of dye entered the storm system.

The manufacturer of the dye tablets has assured the contractor that the product is environmentally friendly and that the dye would naturally decompose under normal conditions," Davidson said.

 Annemarie Reininger, who lives on Joseph Street, right on the creek, wondered if she was seeing things when she looked out the window and saw the shamrock green creek, on Tuesday morning.

 “The creek runs right by my backyard. The City of Markham told me to call the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change spills line to report it. They didn’t know anything about it,” Reininger said Tuesday afternoon.

The water, which turned green around 10:30 a.m., was back to normal colour by 3:30 p.m., but Reininger still had plenty of questions about what substance had turned it green.

She had trouble getting answers.

She finally got an answer late Wednesday night through Markham Ward 4 Coun. Karen Rea.

“The (green) dye used is food grade which does not cause any harm to fishery in the creek. It was from a contractor hired by the Region for their trunk sewer repair on 16th Avenue. The city and the region are dealing with it,” said Rea in an email to Reininger.