Who you gonna call? Canadian town's water turns into Ghostbuster-like pink slime

Residents in the small Canadian town of Onoway were in for a surprise Monday when taps in the town began spewing eerie bright pink water.

Some of the small town’s roughly 1,000 residents shared images and video of the pink ooze on social media, in an attempt to find out what exactly was the source of the mysterious liquid which resembles the slimy pink ooze from Ghostbusters 2.

A statement was not immediately forthcoming from town officials, though eventually one was issued by Mayor Dale Krasnow, who said that the culprit was potassium permanganate, a chemical commonly used in the water treatment process.

It is thought that the problem was caused by a faulty valve allowing the chemical to get into the reservoir and subsequently into people's homes.

Potassium permanganate is relatively benign, though it shouldn’t be consumed in large quantities, the mayor defended his decision not to issue a public health warning, but admitted they could have let residents know what was causing the problem sooner.

“Immediately and throughout this entire process our staff have been in contact with Alberta Environment, and today our discussions have included Alberta Health Services. We were never advised by Alberta Environment to issue a public advisory and all indications are that there was never a public health risk,” Krasnow said in a statement.

“Could the town have done a better job of communicating what was going on yesterday to our community? Absolutely, without a doubt. And we do apologize for that,” he added.