The foam resembled froth you sometimes see near rapids and spillways in streams, according to Edie Dillard of the Columbiana County Emergency Management Agency.  She said it was coming from a hillside recently seeded and fertilized in a strip-mine reclamation.  It was flowing down to a storm water catch pond, and then overflowing to a ditch near the road.  She called the State for help. Mike Settles of the Ohio EPA: “One of the first things we did was seal off the storm water pond, so this material could no longer discharge from it.  We did conduct a PH reading, and also dissolved oxygen readings; and we know the material is acidic and not caustic.  So that’s good news.  But we’re not sure what it is yet.” 

Settles says lab testing will take several days.  Meantime the pond the foam is flowing into will remain sealed, and the area around it closed.