Local officials and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) responded Saturday, July 18, after discolored water was observed in Campbell Branch in Stuart.
Carol Ragsdale reported the discoloration after seeing the waterway while taking an early morning walk on the Mayo River Trail.
According to a DEQ social media post, a nearby business accidentally spilled blue-green dyed hydroseeding mulch and is working to recover as much of the material as possible.
“While the creek looks alarming, the dye is nontoxic. No wildlife impacts have been reported,” the post states.
Online reports and local officials identified the company as Faith Mulch. Representatives with Faith Mulch did not respond to requests for comment.
Stuart Mayor Terry Dalton, who also volunteers with the Stuart Volunteer Fire Department, said he and the department responded to the spill July 18.
“From what I understand, it was a pipe that busted. It’s that green stuff they spray on the side of the highway for grass. It’s not hazardous, it’s just not the best thing for a river to get that much at one time,” he said.
Dalton said Stuart Fire Department personnel placed a boom, a floating barrier used to contain materials in water, where the affected water entered the creek.
“So all the chemicals stayed in that one canal and very little actually got into the main part of the river. So very little actually got into the river, the part that everybody’s looking at is where we backed it up and kept it from getting in there,” Dalton said.
Dalton said he did not see any dead wildlife while responding to the scene.
“To my knowledge it didn’t affect any wildlife,” he said.
Patrick County Emergency Management Director Scottie Cassell said DEQ has received multiple reports regarding pollution in the Mayo River.
“DEQ’s coming down to look and do a site thing later this week. This is in DEQ’s hands, and I know they’ve got a couple of reports on it and they are investigating it,” Cassell said.
DEQ Pollution Response Team Coordinator Allen Linkenhoker is serving as the case manager. Linkenhoker did not respond to requests for comment.
