The change in color of a local river hasn't yet affected any aquatic life, but state officials today were still investigating the cause.
Officials with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources were notified Wednesday about a green hue that has taken over a five-mile stretch of the South Fork of the Salt River near Mexico's wastewater treatment plant.
DNR officials described the color as an "anti-freeze or florescent" green, but would not speculate on its source. Specialists from the state environmental lab are still testing samples that were taken from the river on Friday.
"We still don't have a source yet," said Larry Archer, a DNR public relations spokesperson. "We're not quite sure – until we can get a handle on exactly what we're dealing with – how long the investigation will take.
"We're still trying to narrow down the possible causes."
To figure out the source, Archer said there are a couple of things that have to be done first.
"We want to get a handle on what specific chemical it is and what it's reacting with at the water treatment plant," Archer explained. "It could be a week or so before we can answer that, depending on what sort of test they will run."
The department, working with officials from Mexico, believes that the chemicals used at the plant to treat the wastewater are reacting with a chemical in wastewater being released by a local industry.
The name of the company is not being disclosed.
"We don't want to point a derogatory finger improperly until we get all the details nailed down and know exactly what happened," Archer said.
Archer also added that it's too soon to talk possible penalties.
"We generally don't get to the enforcement side until we first figure out the worst that has happened," he said. "It's just way too soon to talk trouble."
According to a DNR release, Mexico city officials first notified the department of the problem Wednesday, and staff from the department's Northeast Regional Office in Macon were dispatched to conduct an initial investigation. The South Fork of the Salt River flows north away from Mexico approximately 20 miles before draining into Mark Twain Lake.