A West Virginia creek is flowing a bright shade of green.

It is not because of St. Patrick’s Day though. While green dye has been added to the waters to trace the water’s flow, the creek has been contaminated with leakage from a nearby mine in yet another water contamination incident for the region.

Local Hughes Creek residents said that they have dealt with leakage from abandoned mines before, but not like this.

“It’s never been as bad as this, as long as I’ve been here,” said Hughes Creek resident Melissa Campbell told the WV Gazette. “It was seeping out around the entire house. If it were to blow [the mine], it would do major, serious damage.”

Another resident said he also feared a blow out, which happens when water inside the abandoned mine forces the seals to break.

“The water started to pour out of the top of the hill, so it was coming from the top and the bottom,” Paul Burke said. “When it started seeping from above and below, that’s when you knew it had a possibility of all blowing out at one time.”

Over 50 local residents were evacuated after the spill over the weekend.

The DEP is now hoping the green dye will point them to the source of the trouble but the massive size of the Hughes mine complex makes the task more difficult and it could take a while.

“The dye could come through today or, depending on how complex the pathways in the mine are, it could take weeks,” spokesperson Kelly Gillenwater said. “We really just don’t know how complex that system is or where the water is going underground. It seems to be a pretty massive mine complex.”

In the meantime, while Gillenwater said the sulfur-smelling water does not pose an “imminent threat” Appalachian Water Watch pointed out that in addition to environmental damage, the leakage poses an “inhalation risk.”

Photo Credit: WV Gazette