Green antifreeze spill? St Patrick's Day gimic? A water treatment? People in Queenstown have been left scratching their heads over why a peculiar bright green substance washed through the tourist hotspot on Sunday.
Tianna Newlove, visiting from Invercargill, and La Wanda Cowan, visiting from Christchurch, were meeting with their children in Queenstown at the weekend when they spotted the water change colour in a creek.
Newlove told 1 NEWS she was the first to notice a strange green substance start pumping into Lake Wakatipu at Queenstown Bay as they were sitting down relaxing in the town.
"People were a little bit concerned and taking pictures," Newlove recalled.
She said some people theorised it could be for St Patrick's Day (but the holiday is celebrated in March), or some sort of water treatment.
Queenstown Lakes District Council on Sunday said contractors found the source and have taken samples for testing.
In an update Monday afternoon, council chief engineer Ulrich Glasner said testing of the substance, which was not associated with any council operations, could take weeks to produce a conclusive result.
"The substance does have similar characteristics to water tracing dye which is used for mapping waste and stormwater flows. This is not a toxic substance but is certainly an unnecessary addition to an environment we work so hard to protect," he said.
The council said the location of the source was traced back to Horne Creek, near the Stone Bridge on Templeton Way, near the town's library.
"CCTV evidence shows the substance entering Horne Creek near the library at approximately 2.28pm on Sunday," Glasner said.
"Council was notified by numerous people at this stage and took immediate action to dispatch a crew of contractors to the site. The water was clear in this location approximately ten minutes later as it moved down the creek and towards the lake.
"We are reviewing further CCTV footage and following up on all possibilities regarding where the substance originated from. We don’t have any further information on that aspect, or what further action will be taken at this stage.
"We are taking the matter very seriously and would welcome any information which would allow us to identify the source of pollution."
But despite not knowing what caused the mysterious green, Cowan said people were not worried.
While she didn't let their children go near the oddly-coloured water, she said she saw other children putting their hands in the bright substance.
"Everyone was pretty calm and relaxed, everyone was just really confused."
Cowan said she immediately rang the council who didn't yet know any information, but told her another person had called moments before.
She said the colouring lasted about 20 minutes.
"I'd liken it to antifreeze."
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