‘Ghostbusters' Foam Bubbles From Utah Sewers

A small Utah town has a sewer problem that looks like it came from a Hollywood set.

“A strange green foam bubbling out of a sewer may seem like a scene out of ‘Ghostbusters,’ but it really happened on 3200 West in Bluffdale,” Fox 13 Now reported. As the Daily Mail put it: “Who you gonna call? Mysterious green slime bubbles up from sewers in Utah town.”

Residents say they could see the green foam bubbling out of the storm grate from a block away, Fox 13 Now reported.

"Then you got closer and you could see it start rising," local Tara Dahl said, per Fox 13 Now.

Firefighters responding to the scene protected themselves with gloves and masks as they pointed water at the substance, hosing it into the sewer, the report said.

Residents are questioning whether there is a link between the foam and a toxic algal bloom on nearby Lake Utah.

“More than 100 people exposed to the bloom called the Utah Poison Control Center, reporting symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, fever, skin and eye irritation and rashes,” the Daily Mail reported. “Although no definitive link has yet been made with the symptoms and the bloom, officials said they were consistent with cyanotoxin exposure.”

But the city is leaning toward another explanation for the green foam: a recent moss-removal procedure applied to a local canal, according to Fox 13 Now.

"The chemicals that they use for the moss prevention process, or moss cleaning process, foams, causes a foaming action," Nicholas Rupp of the Salt Lake County Health Department told Fox 13 Now.

“At this point, we certainly don’t believe the foam is related to algae. All evidence points to it coming from the moss cleaning process, because that process creates foaming,” Rupp told Gizmodo.

He said the city responded to calls about the foam by sending out emergency responders and scientists, as well as water-quality sampling.