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Mysterious residue on cars at Metro Airport identified by officials

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A mysterious residue coating some cars parked at Metro Airport has some scratching their heads.

Some travelers came back from their vacation having to scrape off the substance from their windshield at the Blue Deck parking lot over the weekend.

John Ridge of Albion went to pick up his car at the parking lot early Monday morning after returning from a weekend trip to Florida to see an Epica concert.

"My first thought was, how are we going to drive home? It’s dark, you can’t see out the windows, even after trying to clean it," said Ridge. "I told my wife, I said, we cant’ drive home. I don’t know how we’re going to get home and both of us had to work in the morning -- so we just kept chipping away until we could at least see out the window."

Now, airport officials have figured out what it may have caused it.  They said it was water and a thin scale of calcium and magnesium salts.

The released the following statement:

Our team is aware of the situation and is working with customers whose vehicles may have been affected. The issue was caused from condenser water drift from a nearby powerhouse cooling tower. The material is water and a thin scale of calcium and magnesium salts naturally occurring in potable water. Recent high temperatures and unfavorable winds caused the drift to land on some nearby vehicles in the airport’s Blue Deck parking structure. The airport has a project underway to help correct the issue and is assisting customers who may have been affected.

It's not clear how much it will cost to fix Ridge's Mazda 6, or who will be paying for it, but Airport officials say they will be working to help correct the issue and assist customers who may have been affected.