• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Rivers & Lakes That Change Colours

MrRING

Android Futureman
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Messages
6,053
http://news.yahoo.com/end-times-texas-lake-turns-blood-red-215004338.html
End Times? Texas Lake Turns Blood-Red
LiveScience.comBy Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer

A Texas lake that turned blood-red this summer may not be a sign of the End Times, but probably is the end of a popular fishing and recreation spot.

A drought has left the OC Fisher Reservoir in San Angelo State Park in West Texas almost entirely dry. The water that is left is stagnant, full of dead fish — and a deep, opaque red.

The color has some apocalypse believers suggesting that OC Fisher is an early sign of the end of the world, but Texas Parks and Wildlife Inland Fisheries officials say the bloody look is the result of Chromatiaceae bacteria, which thrive in oxygen-deprived water.

"It's just heartbreaking," said Charles Cruz, a fish and wildlife technician with Texas Parks and Wildlife in San Angelo, Tex.

Blood red reservoir

Texas is experiencing major drought this summer, with 75 percent of the state's area in an "exceptional" drought, the highest level, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC). The state had hoped for some relief from Tropical Storm Don last week, but the system fizzled and brought only an inch or two of rain to areas near the coast.

The drought has taken its toll on a number of reservoirs in West Texas, Cruz told LiveScience. OC Fisher has never been completely full, Cruz said, but it was stocked with catfish, bass, sunfish and other popular targets for fishermen.

"We surveyed the lake, I believe it was last year, and we had a pretty good fish population out there," Cruz said. "It was pretty sickening going out there, watching lake levels just drop and drop and drop and seeing these nice trophy-sized bass just floating dead."

End times predictions

As of last week, all that remained of the lake was a small pond a few feet deep, Cruz said. There were thousands of dead fish, he said, but no sign of life.

Pictures of this blood-red pool circulated online in fishing forums and caught the notice of Indiana preacher Paul Begley, who said in a YouTube video that the lake might be evidence of the apocalypse as predicted by the Biblical book of Revelation. [End of the World? Top Doomsday Fears]

"The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died," the passage Begley cited reads. "The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood."

Begley may not have any more luck at predicting the end of the world than did Harold Camping, the radio preacher who set the date for May 21, 2011. But for as long as the drought persists, the OC Fisher reservoir is a reservoir no longer.

"I don't know what's left in there now. We haven't been back," Cruz said. "But I would guess it's probably pretty much gone already."
 
Basically, they don't have a clue as to the reason at this stage. It's likely pollution, but the wildlife doesn't appear to have suffered.

_108268020_ebijrqrwsaaomco.png.jpeg


River Frome tributary turns bright blue
  • 1 hour ago
A tributary of a river has has been turned bright blue by a mystery substance.

The Environment Agency said it was carrying out tests on the tributary of the River Frome in Somerset after the water turned a luminous colour.

It said it was treating it as a suspected "pollution incident" but there were no reports of dead wildlife.


Source (extremely brief):
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-somerset-49305056
 
The turquoise color seems the same as found in the toxic lakes I posted about in the last month or so.
Except that is not usually opaque but clear. I've never seen this color before and I can't find a dye that is this color. I'm really curious to hear what it is. Usually, you can trace this to a source where the color appears. No article cites a location.
 
Bit of a random thought: maybe blue food colouring? I used to eat blueberry jelly back in the 1980s that was exactly this hue.
 
Bit of a random thought: maybe blue food colouring? I used to eat blueberry jelly back in the 1980s that was exactly this hue.
Or it's Kool-Aid?
 
I thought Kool-Aid was red? And can you get it local to the River Frome?
There's a blue version that looks close to that shade.
It may be available here, I dunno.
 
Perhaps the opaqueness is connected to the colour. Mixing milk into water will make it more opaque as well as giving a light-scattering effect similar to what turns the sky blue.
 
I didnt know there was a red version. It tastes like crap regardless.
Yeah, I wouldn't drink the Kool-Aid. It seems to be poisoned by default.
 
The environment agency said that they are monitoring it over the week-end and have sent a sample off for analysis.
 
This is kind of my neck of the Fortean woods. To me this colour looks like a copper salt solution (maybe a copper sulphate) but I hope it's something much less hazardous!

Not so far away, near Shepton Mallet the river Sheppey was recently polluted in a separate incident which saw thousands of fish dead.

I'll update you all when the reason surfaces (no pun intended) in the local news as by then it probably won't be mentioned in the national news :)
 
This is kind of my neck of the Fortean woods. To me this colour looks like a copper salt solution (maybe a copper sulphate) but I hope it's something much less hazardous!

Not so far away, near Shepton Mallet the river Sheppey was recently polluted in a separate incident which saw thousands of fish dead.

I'll update you all when the reason surfaces (no pun intended) in the local news as by then it probably won't be mentioned in the national news :)
If it is a copper solution, it may have been released into the river by an electronics factory or electroplating factory.
 
If it is a copper solution, it may have been released into the river by an electronics factory or electroplating factory.

Not many of those left around here - this is farming country and I'm wondering if a deliberate or accidental dumping of long-forgotten (or buried) agrichemicals might be the fellow. We had a mighty torrential rain storm about a week ago which might have flushed stuff into the river.
 
Not many of those left around here - this is farming country and I'm wondering if a deliberate or accidental dumping of long-forgotten (or buried) agrichemicals might be the fellow. We had a mighty torrential rain storm about a week ago which might have flushed stuff into the river.

Bloody farmers again. Or maybe just Smurfs having a wash.
 
The latest from the local paper https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/environment-agency-says-found-who-3203302

'..Environment Agency has confirmed today (Monday, August 12) that its workers has found the cause of the pollution and who was responsible.

It has not made public further details about the source, saying "further action may be required".

A spokesman for Environment Agency said: "We continue to investigate why a tributary of the River Frome in Somerset turned bright blue. We now know the cause of the pollution and who was responsible. We cannot comment or share any specifics as further action may be required, and will not respond to speculation on where the pollution came from. We will work with all parties to prevent re-occurrence. There are no reports of dead or distressed wildlife or fish." '


A bit mysterious! :)
 
Back
Top