It was green and now it's turning brown but the chief environmental officer yesterday told the residents of Gracie Rock that despite discoloration, the Sibun river's water is good enough to drink. Yesterday, CEO Ismael Fabro went to Gracie Rock along with area representative Ralph Fonseca to gauge the situation and offer a response. Fonseca says 7 thousand gallons of water have been trucked to the area and he reported to us that the green stuff is natural not chemical:
Hon. Ralph Fonseca
"We are getting a report from Mr. Fabro which explained to us that the algae that was in the river was natural algae. It was not toxic algae and that normally the river would have been able to deal with it but because we've had an unusual drought this year the river is lower than normal and the river couldn't cleanse itself. The important thing is to make sure that it does not happen again. And that was what Fabro and I were working on more than anything else yesterday. To identify what actually caused it and to make sure that that condition doesn't occur again. So if it was in fact because of some fish farm letting out water that they wouldn't let out the water at that time of the year when the river is low. They'll have to let it out at a time when the river is able to deal with it."
As Fonseca alluded to, there are theories as to what may have caused the algae bloom, but nothing has been confirmed yet.