She says investigating the "orange dusting" — usually seen along the shore or in the very centre of the water — is part of a community-based water quality monitoring program. Somers says the iron bacteria is 100 per cent safe for the aquatic environment and for people to drink. Officials with ENR say the 'orange dusting,' shown here in a small stream, could be iron bacteria, spruce rust or possibly algae. Somers says spruce rust doesn't occur yearly, but officials confirmed that Alaska had a spruce rust cycle a couple of years ago, which coincides with what happened in the Mackenzie Delta region in 2017. Somers says people can get sampling kits in their communities to collect any of the orange dusting they may see.

Source: CBC News August 22, 2020 10:52 UTC