Sheen on Muskingum River Identified

State environmental officials have determined what caused the mysterious sheen on the Muskingum River.

Test results from the state EPA reveal that the sheen is a naturally occurring diatom algae bloom. The director of the Muskingum County EMA, Bo Keck, said that the algae forms at the bottom of the river and the dams cause it to give off an oil-like sheen on the surface.

Though officials know what it is, they do not know what caused it.

"There’s no real reason for it to come up like it did, and do what it did," Keck said. "[State officials] say it is something they’ve seen it before and once they determined it was this diatom, they said exactly, it looks like oil, it gives you the appearance of an oil sheen and an oil spill, but it is not."

Keck said that the bloom is not cause for panic as it poses no threat to you if you go in the water.

"There’s no harmful affects at all," Keck said. "It’s nothing like what was up in Lake Erie. It’s a whole different strain of algae. They said if you’re in the river you may get it on you. It’s gonna get a brownish green color on you, and you can wash it off, and it’s fine."

The current of the river has taken the algae away from the area, and what remains has settled back to the bottom.