Sewer Testing Again Turns Menomonee River Bright Green

The Menomonee River ran a bright apple green Tuesday and will continue to from time to time as the city performs tests of sewer laterals.

Most people have gotten used to seeing Wauwatosa's waterways occasionally take on an unnatural hue and know that it neither a holiday nor a massive spill of some terrible contaminant.

"No, it isn't St. Patrick's Day," said Bill Porter, director of . "We're doing some dye-water flooding and that's why the Menomonee River is colored with a harmless food dye."

Porter said Tuesday testing Tuesday was in the neighborhood of North 83rd Street and Milwaukee Avenue, where the department was doing flow testing to determine private and public inflow and infiltration of clear water getting into the sanitary sewer system.

"That's part of an approved process in the 2012 budget for the sewershed that's essentially from City Hall south to the Village," Porter said.