FLAT ROCK (WWJ) -- The mysterious chemical leak discovered by fishermen in a Wayne County river more than a week ago is believed by environmental investigators to be from a nearly 100-year-old source.
A century-old underground storage tank located about 50 ft. from the water in the Huron River in Flat Rock is suspected by investigators to be the culprit.
Officials said that excavation crews uncovered the tank earlier this week, after a vent pipe and valves in the basement of a metal factory adjacent to the river tipped off Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigators to its' presence at the site.
A federal regulator said that a historical marker at the property indicates it was a lamp factory for Ford Motor Company in the 1920s.
The spill was first discovered after a local fisherman at Huroc Park noticed a bluish sheen on a tributary of water that runs parallel to the river on the evening of Feb. 21.
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The fisherman alerted the Flat Rock Fire Department and officials from Wayne County. The EPA and the Michigan Department of Environment and Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) responded to the area near 26579 West Huron Drive near Telegraph, around 6 p.m. that day.
Crews scrambled to contain the substance, lowering booms into the water in an effort to catch it. Samples were collected from the river and submitted for analysis.
The chemical leak didn't emit any harmful vapors and no health concerns were identified.
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Flat Rock residents are no stranger to chemical leaks. Communities in the city were forced to evacuate in August and September of 2021 when the Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant experienced a fuel spill that contaminated the city's sanitary sewer system.
Clean up efforts took weeks to complete.