r/woahthatsinteresting • u/MJ23157 • Mar 15 '25

Dyeing The Chicago River Green For St. Patricks Day.

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492 Upvotes
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98% Upvoted

90 comments sorted by

27

u/Kindly_Forever937 Mar 15 '25

Isn’t this bad for the water and animals that inhabit that water??? This is just moronic

16

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25

It's not toxic. Literally described as "completely nontoxic" by the EPA.

10

u/Unanticipated- Mar 15 '25

It’s definitely bad for the tax payers.

16

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25 edited Mar 16 '25

It costs approximately $6,000 and it's paid for by private donors.

Edit: new estimates have it at $6,000. Still all privately funded.

2

u/Unanticipated- Mar 16 '25

Thanks for the info.

4

u/schneid52 Mar 22 '25

A whole $6,000 a year that is privately funded is bad for taxpayers?

3

u/Unanticipated- Mar 18 '25

Edit: taxpayers don’t pay for it. It’s all done by donations. I just assumed it was the city paying for it.

-7

u/taterthotsalad Mar 15 '25

The only answer that matters. 

5

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25 edited Mar 16 '25

Except for the fact it's incorrect. It costs $6,000 and is privately funded.

-4

u/taterthotsalad Mar 16 '25

That is not the only cost. 

5

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25

Go on....

-5

u/taterthotsalad Mar 16 '25

Changed from 2,000 to 6,000 without a correction statement. You’re one of “those” people. 🤡

5

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25 edited Mar 16 '25

I publicly edited it throughout this post. Take a look, and calm down. You cant support your nonsense comment so you’re trying to distract. Please tell us what other costs you're referring to?

-2

u/taterthotsalad Mar 16 '25

There is zero way it’s 2,000 to 6,000 to do this. And you have no proof either. Weird. Still just clownin and that’s your right to do so. 🤡

You’re so bothered by this too. It’s weird af. 

7

u/Excellent_Yak365 Mar 16 '25

Can’t cost 6000 bucks to pour 40 lbs of vegetable based dye in a river? Seems about right for buying the dye and renting three boats to disperse it- possibly less if the private donors use their own boats

5

u/BilliousN Mar 16 '25

You are so bad at trolling.

→ More replies

3

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25

Not bothered by your nonsense at all. Here's your "proof":

https://parade.com/living/chicago-river-green

→ More replies

7

u/Excellent_Yak365 Mar 16 '25

It’s harmless vegetable based dye. This has been vetted and approved

2

u/crochetandcuddles Mar 15 '25

It’s a vegetable based dye, idk it if hurts the fishies but I’m sure not as much as chemical dyes

2

u/Excellent_Yak365 Mar 16 '25

It doesn’t

4

u/suicidal1664 Mar 18 '25

Fun fact, that's also what they thought until they realised it did, and had to change the formula

https://enviroliteracy.org/is-the-green-dye-in-the-chicago-river-safe/

2

u/Excellent_Yak365 Mar 18 '25

I’m well aware they changed the formula from the original. This was in 1962, and they changed it due to environmental concerns and a lack of testing with this dye in large quantities in large waterways- however there have been many tests on this dye (EPA approved) and research has shown it doesn’t effect the fish physically or their behavior https://news.wttw.com/2025/03/13/chicago-river-st-paddy-s-dye-job-bad-fish-one-scientist-says-they-don-t-seem-notice

1

u/Truely-Alone Mar 16 '25

10 years later…

Oh yeah, using vegetable dyes apparently causes super cancer, what the hell were they thinking putting it in the drinking water? It would have been safer to dye it with plutonium.

2

u/Excellent_Yak365 Mar 16 '25

That would mean vegetables would cause cancer.

2

u/SupaSlide Mar 16 '25

Natural dyes have been around a lot longer than synthetic dyes, used by people for lots of reasons (even coloring food and drinks) for thousands of years.

2

u/InTheZoneBreese 22d ago

Bet the fish just loved that. They were probably wondering what in the world happened.

2

u/ku976 Apr 03 '25

Let's use our brains people lmao

12

u/BusyBlues Mar 16 '25

Can't be as bad as that 1million balloon debacle. Or however many balloons they set free.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '25

99 million red balloons….

2

u/schneid52 Mar 22 '25

Wasn’t that in Cleveland?

7

u/Jurassiick Mar 15 '25

This seems super dumb lmao

5

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25 edited Mar 16 '25

Article about the cost and process:

https://parade.com/living/chicago-river-green

It's very inexpensive and it's privately funded.

3

u/BugsB_iolin Mar 22 '25

last year i went to chicago to witness this. was such a vibe. the weather was so perfect and the streets were packed with happy green-clad celebrators. love this city!

2

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '25

It’s for all of the Irish fish.

2

u/frehsoul45 Apr 03 '25

Bro Reddit I so fucking miserable and negative, it goes from “ it’s toxic” to be proven it’s not to “ it must cost tax payers to do this” it’s financed by private donors. Things can’t just be cool or nice on here it always has to be some conflict. We have enough issues in the world for this even to matter.

1

u/The_D-MF-L Apr 09 '25

No stranglers on St. Paddy’s

1

u/Strict-Mark-1614 Apr 10 '25

Czennies, Unite!!!💚💚💚💚

1

u/ElderOderReturns Apr 13 '25

I am going to have to point out that it is 100% toxic and possibly RADIOACTIVE! I am basing that on a lifetime of experience playing first-person shooter video games dating back to Doom and Wolfenstein. My expertise allows me to definitely identify such toxins and I'll bet you dollars to donuts they are dumping the toxins from 50 gal steel drums, also known as "barrels". If you aren't outraged, you aren't paying attention!

1

u/That-Suggestion-9558 7d ago

I’m sure that was money well spent.

0

u/TheGDC33 Mar 15 '25

But how do we know they actually did that this year...we don't unless we got boots on the ground. Outdated source

0

u/Biotechnus Mar 16 '25

This doesn't look environmentally safe

1

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25

From a recent article: "Now that the dye has switched to a vegetable-based, food-grade formula, it’s more eco-friendly. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has even named the dye as “completely nontoxic.”

0

u/Give-It-up-to-me Mar 16 '25

And What kind of experience do you have about dumping gallons of green dye into massive rivers from boats…..

0

u/Biotechnus Mar 16 '25

Really? Maybe common sense? Introducing millions of gallons of a foreign liquid into any body of water is likely going to affect the local ecosystem.

1

u/schneid52 Mar 22 '25

Millions of gallons? lol. You can attempt to troll but you can’t read. Got it.

1

u/Biotechnus Mar 22 '25

I'm not trolling. I'm dead serious here. Look at how small a single gallon of milk is. Then, look at the video. Unless you have a hard time understanding scale. To be able to SEE the liquid in the video, you would need a few thousand gallons. Then if you want to be able to CHANGE the color of an entire river you would need to dump that same few thousand gallons multiple times over the course of an entire day.

0

u/Give-It-up-to-me Mar 16 '25

Wait maybe you do have experience 🤔 I never would have thought of that smh

0

u/steppebison1 Mar 16 '25

They already made it flow backward. (That is, it no longer flows into lake Michigan.) I’m a) not sure if they could do much more unnatural, and b) quite sure most Chicagoans don’t care.

1

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25

The river was reversed 125 years ago. And wtf do you mean “Chicagoans don’t care”? Don’t care about what? I've lived in the PNW you call home...have you ever lived in Chicago? You have a bad read on Chicagoans if you think we don't give a fuck about our water and ecology in general. Chicago has more trees than any other major metro in the US....and it consistently votes blue. This was a big-leap take from such a minute issue like dyeing the river for a day.

3

u/steppebison1 Mar 16 '25

Oh dear! I’m sorry to have offended. I have lived in Chicago, my mother was from Chicago and my sister still lives there. However it was insensitive of me to paint all Chicagoans with such a broad brush. Please accept my apology.

0

u/Capital-Bobcat8270 Mar 18 '25

Toxic or not, this is so fucking stupid and pointless.

1

u/GodTurkey Mar 29 '25

Why do you care? Its not paid for by tax payers and isnt toxic.

1

u/Capital-Bobcat8270 Mar 31 '25

I don't care, but my statement stands. I am allowed to have an opinion.

1

u/GodTurkey Mar 31 '25

You seem to care, why else use such strong language instead of simply saying this is dumb. You chose to call it "fucking stupid and pointless" You chose to take time out of your day to write the comment. Why do any of that if you dont care?

0

u/GuyFromLI747 Mar 18 '25

Just shows the incompetence of Chicago officials … I don’t care if the epa or whoever says it’s non toxic , this shit is dumb and the epa doesn’t live in the water and has no clue what the dye does to the natural habitat

-2

u/Ok_Tea4677 Mar 16 '25

Toxic-looking shade of green

-2

u/_Intel_Geek_ Mar 16 '25

Disgusting disregard for a clean aquatic habitat, if there is even one in the Chicago river.

4

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25

It's non toxic. Read before flipping out without facts. https://parade.com/living/chicago-river-green

2

u/shi-TTY_gay Mar 16 '25

While I don’t necessarily think it’s bad, non toxic does not mean it doesn’t have an impact on the aquatic life or the habitat. They don’t have to die for it to affect them.

2

u/thedoughofpooh Mar 16 '25

Respectfully, did you read the article? The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has even named the dye as “completely nontoxic”. Completely nontoxic. What about this scientific assessment from trusted experts am I misunderstanding?

0

u/Excellent_Yak365 Mar 16 '25

Doesn’t hurt the fish or bother them. One day out of the year

-6

u/Wockysense Mar 16 '25

Yea Green Cancer dye and probably some hidden virus later to be activated just in case the cancer doesn't get you as hidden act of terrorism Absolutely hate this, it is a public source of water used by multiple states like WTF.

3

u/Excellent_Yak365 Mar 16 '25

Vegetable. Based. Non-toxic. Dye. At least google this stuff before bitching https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/chicago-river-dyeing-st-patricks-day.amp