Could this be dispersant?

Up here in Michigan we just received one of the first "Gulf Rains".

I was driving home from my daughters home located in South Lyon, MI. to my home
in Wixom. Mi. I noticed some "suds" in the road while I was driving, did not think too
much about it at first. I thought maybe someone spilled some detergent or it was runoff
from something else. But as I drove I noticed it more and more, the drive is about 15 miles
over various roads. In beautiful downtown Wixom I stopped and took pictures.
The first is of the weather pattern that gave us the rain.






Downtown Wixom, Michigan










This was not just local to Wixom, this was seen, again on different roads over the course of approx. 15 miles.

OMG.

I'm no chemist, but that's my generalized understanding.

The pH of that rainwater needs to be checked for the crops sake. If it is alkaline, some soil application will be needed by farmers to counteract consequent pH changes, perhaps an acid. It may also be necessary to wash off crops leaves with irrigation water to prevent leaf damage.

I wonder how far that $20B escrow account will go. The time limit of 80 days to file a claim against BP is clearly not long enough, if we are to believe that report we saw the other day.

But it sure looks like it. Fifteen miles of observed distribution doesn't seem like a local contaminant.

Although very illegal, it's not uncommon for companies who have accumulated hazardous wastes (they would otherwise have to pay a plant for reprocessing/disposal) to have thier guys drive around with a slight "leak". This happens alot more out in rural areas but isn't limited there. If you've ever driven around in a rainstorm or when it's wet out behind a tanker and noticed a film or residue left on your car windows or paint the next day after it's all dried... there ya go.

Your pictures there indicate quite a bit of whatever that is. Certainly doesn't look intentional if was a truck leaking.

Due to construction I had to follow a route that would not have been on any "leaking truck" route.

I'm not saying this is dispersant, but it is fishy.

I drove on different roads and saw the same, it was all over. Here there and everywhere,

or... did some illegal cleaning of a truck.

Has the local health or hazmat team checked on it? They should... not just because it could be some sort of soap.

saw the same.

I took such a varied route, no one truck could have been washed, unloaded, or spilled from.

I criss-crossed through intersections, backtracked and went differently, all the same.

My route from city to city was on at least 5 different main roads, saw the same stuff.

Due to construction, I took a side street, from dirt to asphalt, noticed it on the asphalt.

This was not a local "spill".

Don't know what it is, but I drive around as part of my job, I have never seen this.

since it looks to my trained eyes like a spill

For the record the illegal cleaning usually uses MANY streets and sections. A little here, a little there.

For the rain to carry dispersant that far north would be a record. The particles are heavy, and that is by design.

...and I haven't seen anything that looks like your picture. I'm sure it's something fairly localized and not dispersant.

on and off all day. I see nothing unusual in my pond surface water.

I think what you have is probably something else, like a leaking tanker truck.

I have several 18-gallon plastic containers outside in our backyard. I have tons of flowers
so I like to catch rainwater and use that to water my flowers. I'm in Iowa, and we have
received so much rain lately. Bad floods.

We also had the hurricane rains come through too. I never thought about dispersant, but here
is what happened to me. I dump water from these containers into one container. I noticed
last week when I did this, that there were bubbles at the top of the container--after I dumped
the water into the main container..

I didn't think much of it, and I watered my flowers. But when I got inside, I asked my husband
if he put bleach in the water. We had talked about putting 1 TB of bleach in those containers
to kill mosquitoes or eggs. My husband said he didn't put bleach in the containers and neither
did I. I went back outside and looked at the water, and kinda swirled it around. It made more
bubbles and it felt kinda thick and slimy. Like there was a film in it...like bleach.

Also, my flowers aren't doing well. I assumed this was because of all of the rain. I'm very
protective of my flowers. During the rains, I move them under tables and chairs. So, when
I think about it now--the rains should have caused minimal damage. My flowers look scraggly
and not as full and healthy as last year.

I don't know if dispersant has anything to do with it, but I thought I would relay my experience!

This has got me thinking! I had my hands swirling in that rain water too.

BTW--I did not notice any bubbly water in the streets or sidewalks at all.