Highland reopens Silver Lake after investigating sheen found on the water surface

Elizabeth Donald
·1 min read

UPDATE 5/20/24: This article has been updated with information from the city manager.

Silver Lake has reopened after testing reveals an apparent petroleum leak is not a fossil fuel.

City leaders announced Monday morning that testing results show the substance found on the lake surface this weekend is organic, which means it could not be petroleum leaking from a nearby pipeline.

The area of Silver Lake north of Silver Lake Road has now been reopened for public use and the equipment has been removed from the area.

Early Saturday morning, a fisherman noticed an oily sheen on the water, which was confirmed by the Grantfork Fire Department at the Illinois 160 bridge.

The Highland Fire Department deployed an oil boom and the city closed the north end of the lake as a precaution, while experts were called in from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

City Manager Chris Conrad confirmed Monday that it appears to have been a false alarm. They are not sure what the substance found on the water is, he said, but it is not petroleum based.

“Iron oxide bacteria is a common, naturally-occurring substance that can cause sheening on water and is found in saturated ground,” Conrad said. “It would also explain why it dissipated so quickly.”

The substance was only seen in the creek north of the lake, Conrad said. “We installed the oil boom at the mouth of the creek and there was no sheening seen at the boom after 24 hours.”

The Capwood pipeline nearby connects an oil storage facility with the refinery in Wood River. In 2015, a break in the pipeline spilled an estimated 4,200 gallons of crude oil into the Silver Lake watershed, requiring a massive cleanup operation.

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