Oh shit!
Thousands of mysterious black balls that washed ashore and closed off a popular Australian beach last month have turned out to be tiny clumps of poo.
Initially thought to be made of tar, scientists at the University of New South Wales discovered that the sticky balls were actually made up of “fatbergs” (human waste, human hair, cooking oil, chemicals, fatty acids, It was confirmed that the drug was a disgusting combination of illegal drugs, etc. According to reports, the compound.
“They're completely unpleasant odors, worse than anything I've ever smelled before,” said lead researcher Associate Professor John Bebbs. told 9News.
“Fatbergs” commonly form in sewers when substances do not dissolve in water and end up sticking together.
The newspaper said eight beaches in Sydney were closed for several days in October after thousands of unusual floating objects washed ashore, and Randwick City Council said initial tests showed pellets could be from an oil spill. I suspected it was a mixture of refined oils.
The researchers said each ball was slightly different, with a hard surface and a soft core.
Analytical chemist Professor William Alexander Donald told 9News: “This was a significant analytical challenge because we were dealing with very complex mixtures containing hundreds to thousands of components.”
“We had a lot of fun using deductive reasoning to trace the possible sources of human waste and analyze these mysterious clumps.”
Due to the ball's complex composition and time spent underwater, tests have not yet determined the ball's exact origin. According to a media release from the NSW Department of Environmental Protection.
The EPA added that Sydney Water had reported no known issues with the city's waste systems.
The EPA is carrying out its own independent testing to determine the ball's composition, so researchers hope more foul-smelling floaters will return to Sydney's beaches until their source is determined. I think there is a possibility of getting there.
“Unless we know where the waste is coming from, there is no reason to think there will be more waste in the future,” Beves says.
