Unknown substance in Lake Hamilton spurs investigation

Officials are investigating after an unknown substance was reported on the water in Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs.

The city said in a news release that a property owner reported a mile-long, 20-foot-wide spill of a substance that appeared to be oil in front of her property in a cove of the lake.

A spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality described the spill as an "unknown sheen" and said it was not confirmed to be oil.

"We have received reports it's breaking up as the wind hits it," spokesman Katherine Benenati said.

Bobby King, a spokesman for the Garland County Department of Emergency Management, said the substance had isolated itself in a cove and didn't appear to be spreading.

He said a sample was taken and tests are pending to determine what it is. Efforts are also under way to find where it may have come from.

"We're not even sure that it's oil," he said. "It may be something else altogether."

A spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Health said that agency was notified of the spill, but it didn't have an immediate role in the response.

The release from the city said the origin and composition of the spill isn't known, but that it is not a threat to the Hot Springs potable water system.

“The oil spill is located about 6 miles below the city’s water intake,” Hot Springs Municipal Utilities Richard Penn said in the statement. “Our water system customers will be unaffected.”

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