The water of the Grand Canal in Venice, near the Rialto Bridge, has been dyed fluorescent green, a tracer fluid used to understand the path that water follows. At the moment, the origin and reasons for what happened are unknown.

The bright green spot appeared in the channel that connects Campo San Luca with the Grand Canal and little by little spread to the rest of the channels Venetians after the start of the Vogalonga, a regatta that has been held since 1974 and that was born as a demonstration to protect the Italian city.

The Police communicated in a note that “after the first investigations, carried out by the fire brigade, together with the local police of Venice and the regional agency for the prevention and protection of the environment of the Veneto region (ARPAV), the substance appears to be a tracerthat is to say, a liquid that is injected in those circumstances in which a water leak occurs in order to know the path followed” and that is also used in speleology.

While investigations continue it has been ensured that the liquid is non-toxic and there is no danger to the health of the inhabitants. The Government delegate of Venice, Michele de Bari, organized an emergency coordination meeting in order to determine the causes and the consequent measures to be adopted” and “pending the evolution of events, it has been ordered to intensify surveillance in the lagoon area to control any critical situation and prevent new similar episodes”.

In addition, they have indicated that the Government delegate will hold a new meeting, also in relation to the evolution of the situation. The Italian media pointed out that this episode recalls the initiative of the Argentine artist Nicolás García Uriburu, who died in 2016 at the age of 79, who in 1968 had poured a fluorescent green liquid into the Grand Canal to protest against water pollution.

For now no movement has claimed responsibility for this action Also denying their involvement were “Latest Generation” environmental activists, who in recent days have thrown black paint into the water of Rome’s Trevi Fountain and other buildings and works of art to protest the lack of attention to climate change.