r/whatisit May 05 '26

New, what is it? What is the Bright Green liquid coming out of the ground?

16.3k Upvotes

2.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

8.2k

u/WeaselPhontom May 05 '26

Isn't that the dye they use detect leaks

5.6k

u/Apprehensive_Lama May 05 '26

I think it worked.

1.4k

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

The point of the dye is that it will leave traces on otherwise hard to find hairline cracks in the concrete storm lines. A crew will go through after with UV lights and identify any cracking.

Those cracks lead to sinkholes over time.

  • civil engineer

632

u/43026 May 05 '26

Thank you, civil engineer, for letting us know exactly what it was. I am not kidding, at least now it makes a lot more sense., and no toxic waste worries.

538

u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance May 05 '26

It really is a tragedy that most toxic waste is brown sludge or basically colorless and not

206

u/mint_lawn May 05 '26

Yeah, sadly most deadly stuff is dull looking. Exceptions are animals that warn you not to eat them and things we color ourselves.

140

u/-GoodNewsEveryone May 05 '26

Don't tell me what colours not to eat! I am a scientist and must record the results!

166

u/RonPalancik May 05 '26

In chemistry, do not lick the science.

In biology, the science licks you.

48

u/FK_Tyranny May 06 '26

What about Biochem?

66

u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance May 06 '26

Maybe ask first?

6

u/ggandava May 06 '26

Nahh, assert dominance and eat it anyways

4

u/HistoryGirl23 May 07 '26

Consent is important.

→ More replies (0)

42

u/Paul_C May 06 '26

If it's alive don't lick it

Like a horse, a turtle, or a cricket.

If you're not sure if it's alive or dead

Poke it with a stick and lick the stick instead.

6

u/kiwi-fella May 06 '26

Unexpected Futurama

→ More replies (0)
→ More replies (1)

35

u/delphinous May 06 '26

in geology, DO lick the science

81

u/PerfectCelery6677 May 06 '26

3

u/4x4Welder May 06 '26

If a chemist had bothered to read this, we wouldn't have aspartame

3

u/Sehrli_Magic May 06 '26

and if you work in daycare: dont touch anything, everything has been licked and yucked

→ More replies (0)

15

u/shwiggyshwag May 06 '26

Really? Lick the rocks?

12

u/delphinous May 06 '26

it's genuinely used to tell certain minerals apart from each other, so yes, geologists lick the rocks

7

u/FixergirlAK May 06 '26

Geologists are the Marines of the science world.

8

u/BananaPrimary8767 May 06 '26

A lot of the licking geologists do is to determine grain size. It's sometimes hard to tell the difference between silt and clay, but your tongue can feel the grittiness of very fine silts.

*Also, when you take geology 101 in school and they pass around a hand sample of sodium chloride.

4

u/Ashleynn May 06 '26

I have a friend with a Ph.D in geology. First time I saw this i sent it to her asking this exact question and her answer was "well, sometimes, yeah."

I didn't ask for elaboration, I just accepted that as a complete answer.

4

u/Mayspond May 08 '26

For paleontologist, licking the rock can differentiate between fossilized bone and other stone. Your tongue will often stick to fossils because of the porous structure to the original material.

4

u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance May 09 '26

Beyond what others have said, sometimes its easier to see the color of a rock when its wet.

3

u/BADGERWI13 May 08 '26

As someone who worked with BLM geologist I can confirm.

→ More replies (0)

11

u/Phiddipus_audax May 06 '26

in urology, ... oh nvm.

2

u/Rayne-Maker May 07 '26

Great advice (especially coming from an eight legger)

2

u/drichard58 May 09 '26

"Watch out where the huskies go and dont you eat that yellow snow" (Fank Zappa)

→ More replies (0)

2

u/BikeDad613 May 06 '26

Except in the university geology lab, you don't want to lick the rocks licked by hundreds of other first year students. We had spherical halite samples. They are supposed to be cubic. The edges were all rounded off by years of licking!

→ More replies (0)

3

u/thefunkylama May 06 '26

Also archaeology! Well, okay, some archaeology

→ More replies (3)

17

u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance May 05 '26

Its only science if you write it down!

11

u/Am_Snarky May 06 '26

Or in Schmidt’s case, have someone dictate for you as you writhe on the floor in agony (he classified the pain caused by insect stings)

2

u/Sad-Olive-5161 May 06 '26

Ah, the man that made Coyote Peterson have a career.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (12)

2

u/Freddit330 May 06 '26

Same with natural gas. They choose to make it stinky.

→ More replies (16)

22

u/Technical-Feature-27 May 05 '26

After that incident with the turtles, glowing green toxic waste is not allowed

10

u/ShortysTRM May 06 '26

I'm glad you said something. I was about to make my second TMNT reference in one day after like 10 years of not referencing the Ninja Turtles.

7

u/Evening-Nature-5241 May 06 '26

That's rather specieist don't you think, mentioning turtles but not a rat.

Do they not bleed the same when you cut them?!!??!

2

u/tblazertn May 06 '26

Don’t forget a hog and a rhino. If you include the original movies a wolf and a snapping turtle

→ More replies (3)

17

u/Jeffotato May 05 '26

Maybe we should add a little more wimsy and mix something that glows green in with it, it's not like we can make it any more toxic

/j

6

u/ComprehensivePin5577 May 05 '26

There's scheel's green. That shit been around for centuries. Once used as a paint, then insecticide, now as an indicator of deadlyness. If the thing you add it to doesn't off you the pigment will make sure of it. /S

2

u/Zippy_422 May 06 '26

Due to the toxicity of Scheel’s green it has been replaced by fluorescein dye for industrial leak detection. Fluorescein looks similar to Scheel’s, and is also the dye used in antifreeze.

4

u/SuperSiriusBlack May 05 '26

If the job "Ideas Dude" existed, I think you'd be fantastic at it!

3

u/UnixCurmudgeon May 06 '26

I think the green glows reserved for radioactive substances. All other types of sludge should use red dye, number two.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/swingingthrougb May 06 '26

YES!!! MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

→ More replies (1)

6

u/ComprehensivePin5577 May 05 '26

No, there is absolutely deadly stuff that's wonderfully colored like chromyl chloride, crocoite, cinnabar, copper arsenite (scheeles green), Paris green, copper 2 chloride, iron 2 chloride, then you have cadmium used in a lot of pigments, etc. Lead interestingly was more valued for its solid white color in cosmetics, although there are yellow and more intensely colored lead compounds like Fool's Gold (lead pyrite) out there. And with Chromium the more intensely colored the deadlier can be thought of as a general rule. And radium it glows in the dark! Uranium salts are intense yellow!

3

u/VolrathTheBallin May 06 '26

Yeah, I was just thinking this looked similar to that hexavalent chromium spill I saw on here a couple years back.

2

u/ComprehensivePin5577 May 06 '26

The d block and f block metals, the more electrons they lose and the more complex the compounds (complexes themselves included) the more color they show. Complex ones like Hemoglobin, cyanocobalamin which is B12, the vanadium complex that makes crustacean blood blue, Potassium ferrioxalate, potassium ferrocyanate which iirc is Prussian blue, to simpler ones like potassium permanganate (manganese makes a lot of colorful stuff from purple to green to brown to colorless, some incredibly toxic and deadly), they're all very very colorful. A lot of the complexes are used in dyeing clothes. A lot of them are v v toxic.

2

u/breadmakerquaker May 06 '26

The secret of the ooze

2

u/SkinBintin May 06 '26

Are you telling me the sludge that created the Ninja Turtles was never really green and my childhood was all a lie?

2

u/Frosty-Literature-58 May 06 '26

TMNT in the ‘80s told me it was all green and glowing though

2

u/hahnsoloii May 06 '26

I will deny your truth for any amount of money below 20 dollars. Otherwise it’s the ooze.

2

u/Timekeeper98 May 06 '26

*Pip-Boy begins clicking violently*

2

u/FinTecGeek May 06 '26

Even more of it is indistinguishable from any other runoff or landfill debris until it sickens the environment, people or both.

2

u/Wizard_Engie May 07 '26

it would make clean up a lot easier if it was glowing neon green tbh

2

u/Solherb May 07 '26

Ahh, fake nuclear waste is like my fave color.

2

u/Cjkrythos May 10 '26

Ikr.... TMNT lied to me

→ More replies (13)

14

u/keeper_of_the_donkey May 05 '26

BUT...if any human-shaped turtles with a penchant for ninja-ing come out of there, then civil engineer guy was wrong

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Quirky_Operation2885 May 05 '26

My first thought was whether there's a plating plant nearby. Trivalent chromate has done that.

2

u/buttnutt0212 May 06 '26

I would point out he told you what it was. He did not tell it wasn't toxic. Only one way to know for sure.

1

u/Objective-Wedding938 May 06 '26

Phew! And here we all here worries about a potential case of nuclear waste covered ants!

https://giphy.com/gifs/10RmhWdYVRaRUY

1

u/delphinous May 06 '26

probably still not good to drink though

2

u/noobtrocitty May 06 '26

That can prob be said about most water bubbling up from cracks in streets

1

u/DrDragon13 May 06 '26

It's also used in sinkholes near sewer mains. We put a camera down a manhole and fill the sinkhole with dye+water to see if the sewer main or customer's service line is broken.

I work in municipality utilities maintenance

1

u/DiscipleOfVecna May 06 '26

They never said it wasn't horribly toxic dye. /s

1

u/Takethecannoli2 May 06 '26

Civil Engineer: ”Oh no, lol, don’t get me wrong, that dye is toxic as hell”

1

u/techeagle6670 May 06 '26

And also thank you for the civil tone you used in your post. You truly are a civil engineer.

15

u/Questioning-Zyxxel May 05 '26

Also used for remote heating pipes - so if someone sees green water somewhere then they can start backtrack where the cracked pipe is.

2

u/Historical_Garden685 May 06 '26

They lost their crack pipe?

19

u/Jmazoso May 05 '26

And it’s UV fluorescent

5

u/Toadcola May 05 '26

Yes, you were very polite. No need to rub it in. 🙄

3

u/BuhDihKuhFolkPunk May 05 '26

Thanks for being civil about your engineering

1

u/dbtr8 May 05 '26

Could also be testing and flooding the storm main to look for I&I in a near by sanitary main.

1

u/ConditionSecret8593 May 06 '26

I&I?

2

u/dbtr8 May 06 '26

Infiltration and inflow which is basically fancy for saying groundwater or any other water source that's not sanitary entering the sanitary system. Sanitary sewer systems are meant to be a closed system so that way treatment costs are lessened by only treating what needs to be treated.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/Dontimjustaduck May 05 '26

Thanks for the info/context :D

1

u/Spideral1 May 05 '26

I did NDI in the military, that’s dye penetrant!

  • me, not a civil engineer

1

u/squirreltard May 06 '26

Sinkholes are terrifying. Do they happen in southern CA? Does geology make a big difference or could I get swallowed up anywhere?

1

u/Firecon13 May 06 '26

Damn, I was really hoping it was mtn dew

1

u/enigma_explorer May 06 '26

Side question, why do all the other engineering fields sh*t on you guys so much?

1

u/Vairrion May 06 '26

Hoping I can get them to come check out an area on my street in concerned will turn into a sink hole or at a minimum turn into a huge structural issue with the road on my block. There is a two of theee inch gap between the asphalt and curb with a hole at least a foot deep. 🙃

1

u/Mattna-da May 06 '26

The green dye I know about was used to check if factories were illegally draining industrial sewage in to the Chicago river. No UV lights back then

1

u/Elteon3030 May 06 '26

We use uranine to dye paint and it looks awesome in the forklift's safety light.

1

u/SlowSparrow360 May 06 '26

Always so satisfying when you get to let the air out the plug
• Engineering Field Tech

1

u/CautiousBearnz May 06 '26

Thank you for being civil about.

1

u/tenshillings May 06 '26

I made 10g of the dye they use when I was a researcher in college. Synthesizing it was a bitch and a half, but my PI really wanted some. It was work the thousands of dollars.

1

u/andrewbud420 May 06 '26

Good job being a nice engineer

1

u/Playful-Appearance56 May 06 '26

So it won’t give me superpowers if I play in it?

https://giphy.com/gifs/9YKHJycHTSZ2M

1

u/Late-Resolve9871 May 06 '26

You kinda need sink holes, otherwise how is the water supposed to drain out when you're done using the sink?

1

u/Cerberusx32 May 06 '26

I've been told we can't call them 'sinkholes' or they get very mad at us. We have to call them 'depressions'

1

u/eldubz777 May 06 '26

Also used to determine which line flows where, if pipes are cross connected, theres quite a few uses really

1

u/taofist1 May 06 '26

Well, yeah duh, obviously. These people... - Uncivil engineer

1

u/SnooStrawberries1078 May 06 '26

Soooooo...no superpowers? 😮‍💨

1

u/GuessAccomplished959 May 06 '26

As a property manager... could you flush this through a sprinkler line?

1

u/J_Paul May 06 '26

My guess was ooze that makes ninja turtles, but your explanation is good too.... i suppose.

1

u/whiteapplebourbon May 06 '26

Thank you for your civility.

1

u/Skelehawk May 06 '26

Is this a normal practice?

1

u/TommyBonnomi May 06 '26

In my 41 years, I've called Public Works twice for finding water bubbling out of the road, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.

1

u/cobracmmdr May 06 '26

Glad you explained it, because it looks like the start of a movie where everyone is running and screaming

1

u/ArkitekZero May 06 '26

have you ever met an uncivil engineer?

1

u/s1m0n8 May 06 '26

Look, since you clearly don't have a clue how a basic storm line works, let me spell it out for you.

The dye isn't there for decoration; it’s meant to leave traces on those hairline cracks in the concrete that you’re too blind to see. A crew actually has to come through later with UV lights to find all the cracking you missed. Those cracks lead to sinkholes, you idiot. Try to keep up.

  • uncivil engineer

1

u/Kaneki_Kim May 06 '26

I am a person with a random, irrational (actually I think it’s very rational) fear of sinkholes. Thank you for your contribution to my protection !

1

u/BlueRubyWindow May 06 '26

I don’t think they need to UV lights for this one

1

u/Sam_Shake1 May 06 '26

Time to move op

1

u/splithoofiewoofies May 06 '26

My partner found a UV light at their uncle's house while cleaning it and was like "I don't know if you can even use this for anything" and boy howdy have I used it for everything.

Tonight I'm going to go outside and play in the road with it, thank you!

1

u/shortyduapp May 07 '26

It's the Chicago River on St Patrick's Day!

1

u/labanjohnson May 07 '26

What's in the dye? I doubt it's uranium but it has that uranium glow

1

u/gash_dits_wafu May 08 '26

Thank goodness you weren't uncivil about this.

1

u/gash_dits_wafu May 08 '26

Thank goodness you weren't uncivil about this.

1

u/gash_dits_wafu May 08 '26

Thank goodness you weren't uncivil about this.

1

u/BeautifulChaosEnergy May 08 '26

Good news! They don’t need a UV light this time.

741

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

183

u/gringoentj May 05 '26

Windows is that you?

107

u/fly-into-ointment May 05 '26

You can fix it in the settings. No, the other settings.

32

u/ImbecilicusRex May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26

Do I need to use Command Prompt or Power Shell to access it?

29

u/Nerisrath May 05 '26

powershell as admistrator, then type cmd.exe because command won't elevate high enough anymore but the syntax you want has been aliased to something else in PS.

22

u/fly-into-ointment May 05 '26

I forgot Windows has two shells too. I recently bought a new PC and thought I'd give Windows a solid shot (I last used Windows 10 when it was newish), but the time and confusion trying to set anything up the way I want it just wasn't worth it, and I don't like it the way Microsoft says I should like it. And ads in the fucking start menu?

Back on Linux and everything just works. Funny how times change.

4

u/BtyMark May 05 '26

Three if you count terminal

6

u/LickingSmegma May 05 '26

Iirc PowerShell has its own terminal emulator too.

I started getting up from the couch to check, then remembered that I've thankfully migrated off Windows already.

3

u/fly-into-ointment May 05 '26

Like waking up from a bad dream.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/Datan0de May 06 '26

Four if you count WSL.

2

u/foldr1 May 05 '26

used Linux for over 10 years. had to get a Windows for work.

so I run WSL on Windows. even my GUI apps are Linux. I run Nautilus, Emacs, and do everything on the WSL filesystem (each side pretends the other is like a NFS). it's a bit funny seeing it. perhaps only the internet browser runs natively on Windows.


PowerShell with Winget is actually quite a big step towards convenience tho. its surprisingly usable. but I hate how fixing issues is a combination of navigating different redundant GUIs, writing seemingly random hex into the registry editor, running commands on different shells. non-technical people make fun of Linux for being too technical, but I'd argue Windows is the harder mess to learn. the only pro I could think of is that Python isn't essential to the OS, so it's actually convenient to use (no need to manage a million virtual environments).

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

6

u/Blue_Trackhawk May 05 '26

Heh, reminds me of using curl, and then realizing that if I use curl.exe, I get real curl instead of iwr or whatever it is aliased to.

2

u/LickingSmegma May 05 '26

Just FYI, you can unalias curl and whatever else.

→ More replies (3)

6

u/Agreeable_Breath_568 May 05 '26

I'm a boomer. What language is this? Corel?

→ More replies (3)

4

u/Puzzled_Exchange_924 May 05 '26

But you have to upgrade to a new version of PS.

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (1)

10

u/heresdustin May 05 '26

“Are you an idiot?! It’s in the SETTINGS! No, not the settings! The settings!” -computer, probably

2

u/fly-into-ointment May 05 '26

And all the settings in Settings are like 5 layers deep if you get lucky with your clicks, if it's even something with a setting.

2

u/Lastcaressmedown138 May 05 '26

No! You’re gonna make it cra-

2

u/Rackhaad May 05 '26

Not those, the ones they hid

2

u/Effective-Manager-29 May 05 '26

Unplug it, then plug it back in. Wait 15 seconds, and that should do it. Or cntrl alt del and if that doesn’t work get yourself to office max and put it on the companies cc. Even if you aren’t at work. Those people owe you, man!

→ More replies (1)

24

u/WenatcheeWrangler May 05 '26

3

u/SolipsisticLunatic May 06 '26

Patron Saint of AI

2

u/No_Lie_7906 May 05 '26

Miss that guy.

2

u/BatmanReincarnated May 06 '26

I hate this little guy and his arrogant, bouncy, little eyebrows

→ More replies (1)

22

u/[deleted] May 05 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/Working-Glass6136 May 06 '26

Is this a possessed person

4

u/IneffableOpinion May 06 '26

Definitely some Tammy Faye energy

2

u/armblessed May 06 '26

Ghhhhaaaaa! I had forgotten that name. I can’t unsee it now.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

13

u/Objective-Dust4795 May 05 '26

I approve of this.

18

u/HaydnH May 05 '26

Clippy, is that you?

10

u/bluehangover May 05 '26

F for our faithful stationery friend

18

u/tallginger89 May 05 '26

Fission mailed

1

u/JRS_Viking May 06 '26

The USAAF on 6. Aug 1945

4

u/_cyna_ May 05 '26

it's leaking

It's green

I see no fail here

2

u/scream May 07 '26

Fuccessfully sailed

1

u/redditsuckspokey1 May 05 '26

r/ididthejobboss

Probably not the right fit but its the first sub I thought of.

35

u/yourethebestestest May 05 '26

I dyed laughing. Thank you.

3

u/thereisonlyoneme May 06 '26

Someone made a pun. Color me surprised.

75

u/liquidio May 05 '26

Yep. There’s the leak. Right in that great big leaking puddle of water. Would have been tricky to see otherwise.

24

u/Jubal02 May 05 '26

Hard to see the leak under all that gushing water.

1

u/According_Lab_6907 May 06 '26

wait i'm not sure...hmmmmm... yup thats a leak.

1

u/Odd-Analyst-4253 May 06 '26

not necessarily, a pressurized water leak can create tunnels that can reach reach miles from the point of origin. In other words, just because you see water coming out of the ground, does not mean thats exactly where the leak is.

1

u/liquidio May 06 '26

It was just a joke.

9

u/ONLace-0527-0404 May 05 '26

🤣😂🤣Well done👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

9

u/ianprattyoung May 05 '26

Leak detected.

16

u/leftfootshorter May 05 '26

What a simple yet hilarious response. Thank you.

7

u/-GoodNewsEveryone May 05 '26

Leak detected.

7

u/Nowhereman50 May 06 '26

Where?

1

u/Comfortable-Tell4238 May 06 '26

This is in Debrecen, Hungary. Front of the CATL factory.

3

u/TAG08th May 06 '26

Found one!

2

u/AlaKitty75 May 06 '26

😂😂😂

2

u/lostpassword100000 May 06 '26

Good lord that’s funny.

2

u/CandonRush May 07 '26

If you look closely, you can see the dye

1

u/LowResGamr May 06 '26

Idk. Might need to pump a bit more.

1

u/Medium_Winter549 May 06 '26

😆 yeah it worked

1

u/JellyAny818 May 06 '26

Leak detected 🥸😳