Dark Residue In Babylon Canal Likely Decomposing Matter, Official Says

BABYLON VILLAGE, NY — A mysterious dark residue recently discovered in a Babylon Village canal is most likely a product of organic material and climate change, Town of Babylon chief environmental analyst Richard Groh told Patch.

Residents who live on the canal noticed the black, filmy-like discharge on Sunday, claiming it presents a "foul" order, CBS News said.

Groh told Patch that the canal, located between South Bay Drive and Little East Neck Road, is man-made and was created on wetlands, along with many nearby canals, between 1900 and 1975.

Since the canal faces the south, it's "perfectly oriented" to catch eel grass and other sea grasses in the summer months.

"You have an unnatural situation where this organic material is getting pushed into these canals," said Groh.

Eelgrass beds tend to grow rapidly in the spring and summer, then decay in the fall and winter, according to the National Audbon Society.

It is a crucial part of aquatic ecosystems, especially in the Great South Bay.

When the material gets to the end of the canal, it has no place to go, so it sinks and "rots out."

When the material decomposes, it creates hydrogen sulfide — a colorless gas known for its pungent "rotten egg" odor at low concentrations.

"It's kind of like a black ooze, and certainly if that gets kicked up the waters probably going to appear pretty dark," he said.

Town of Babylon officials inspected the water on Monday. Groh and the Suffolk County Water Waste Management System confirmed the discharge is not from sewage and not petroleum.
However, the Suffolk County Health Department's test showed a reading of "anoxic," or zero traces of oxygen.

"Even if you approached zero, that's really bad," said Groh. "But this was zero, no oxygen."
When a body of water is anoxic, it's most likely due to hydrogen sulfide, he said. However, this discharge was different from what he had previously seen.

"This was more like what we see sometimes in the freshwater streams, where you have decay, and you have this type of sheen coming up," Groh said.

This decomposition is "prominent" in canals, especially in the Town of Babylon, he said.

Residents told CBS that in their decades of living on the canal, no such thing has ever happened.

Climate change, Groh said, is the probable reason the decomposition is happening now.

"We had a warm winter. I believe the water temperature is up," he said. "As time goes on, this material just keeps accumulating. Every year, it's probably getting worse and worse."

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation told Patch they conducted an investigation of the residue on Sunday, along with U.S. Coast Guard personnel.

The DEC and the Coast Guard also inspected an upstream (up-flow) storm drain and did not notice any impacts to the area. The DEC also requested the village and town of Babylon, which have oversight over the stormwater system in this area, to investigate any potential cause beyond the organic material observed.

Brian Zitani, waterways management supervisor., said that the Town of Babylon is depending on the lab results taken by the Suffolk County Department of Health.

The tests have yet to be confirmed, but could be ready as early as Friday, he said.

Groh said that a likely solution to rid of the discharge is to dredge the canal. But it's not a permanent fix.

"It would happen over time again, you know, with if it wasn't dredged on a regular basis," he said.