River Foam April 2008

It’s back. The foam that mysteriously appeared and gained a lot of attention in the summer of 2006 has resurfaced on the James River.

The appearance of the foam has raised enough eye brows that Paul Bukaveckas, a biologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, proposed a two-year study be done to find its cause.

The study has not been approved because the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality doesn’t have the finances for it.

“Naturally occurring organic compounds, wastes dumped into rivers, detritus from river organisms - all of these can cause the bubbles to stabilize and not burst readily,” Roberto Gregorius, an associate professor of chemistry at the University of Texas-Pan American, states on the Argonne National Laboratory’s Web site.

The streams of Lake Superior have had foam build up in the past. So much that the Michigan Department of Environment Quality has made an educational pamphlet about it.

As dead plant decompose, oils are released onto the water’s surface. The oil changes the physical makeup of the water and when turbulent waters add air to the mix you the result is river foam, the pamphlet says.

The pamphlet also says that brown foam is the result of tannin, which is the substance that gives wood its brown color.

It also says that when foam does occur because of pollutants it is slimy to the touch and the textile, paper production, and oil industries can all cause foam. As well as fire fighting activities.