- At least the bizarre change is bringing visitors to a wildlife refuge.
Bodies of water can come in many colors. Clean seas, lakes, and rivers are generally blue or a greenish hue, while more muddied waters can range from brown to orange and yellow.
Despite the variability, though, we can all agree that lakes aren’t supposed to be a garish bright pink.
Somebody should tell that to Kealia Pond. The body of water, located on the island of Maui in Hawaii, has decided to turn a purplish pink hue.
The color is so unnaturally bright that locals have dubbed it “Pepto Bismol pink.”
Why Kealia Pond has changed colors isn’t completely clear, but according to experts, it’s most likely due to Hawaii’s drought conditions. The dry weather has made the pond’s water saltier, making it an ideal environment for certain red and pink bacteria.
The good news is that despite its unnatural color, the water isn’t believed to be toxic. The bad news is, no one knows how long the pond will stay pink.
‘Something Weird Going On’
Kealia Pond is a well-sized body of water located on Maui in its eponymous Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge. Its waters and the surrounding wetlands are a sanctuary to many kinds of birds—including the endangered Hawaiian stilt—that visitors can marvel at from the refuge’s boardwalks.
But life at the refuge turned on its head at the end of October.
“I just got a report from somebody that was walking on the beach, and they called me up like, ‘There’s something weird going on over here,’” Kaelia Pond National Wildlife Refuge manager Bret Wolfe told the Associated Press.
Wolfe went to see what was up, and something weird was going on, indeed. Kaelia Pond’s waters had become a striking pink color.
Locals, too, quickly noticed that things at the refuge had taken a turn for the bizarre. Travis Morrin told Hawaii News Now that his friends called him and told him to get down to the pond.
“I was like, ‘I don’t believe it, it can’t be that pink,’” Morris said.
“Sure enough, toward sunset the lighting was good. I just happened to drive by and I was like, it’s like Pepto Bismol pink.”
Naturally, the unnaturally pink water has attracted crowds gawking at the mind-boggling phenomenon. Although Wolfe is glad his park is getting more attention, he does wish it hadn’t come with such a disruptive phenomenon.
“We prefer that they come to hear about our mission of conserving native and endangered waterbirds and our wetland restorations. But no, they’re here to see the pink water,” said Wolfe.
Yet, he does understand the fascination, and admits that as long as people drop by, it’s fine.
Too Dry to Not Be Pink
When the water first turned pink, the phenomenon did cause concern with Wolfe and the locals. After all, no one had ever seen this kind of color change at the pond before.
Had there been some kind of a dangerous chemical leak?
Expert gathered samples of the water for analysis, suspecting that the pond might be suffering from a potentially toxic algae bloom. However, there was no unusual algae in the water.
There was an unusual level of halobacteria, though. These kinds of bacteria thrive in salty water and can produce carotenoids that may turn water red or pink.
And Kaelia Pond is currently salty, indeed. The ongoing drought conditions have increased the pond’s already high salinity to the point where it’s twice as salty as seawater.
Normally, rainwater dilutes the pond’s water enough that the salinity stays reasonable. Without rain, though, fresh water hasn’t flowed into the pond and what’s there has been slowly evaporating.
As a result, the salinity has jumped through the roof.
A DNA test is needed to positively determine the cause of the pink color, but the bacteria are a strong candidate. The thing is strange, though, since the lake has faced droughts before — but has never turned pink.
Fortunately for locals, experts don’t believe the pink water is toxic. They don’t recommend anyone to go and drink it, but there’s no immediate danger to anyone.
On the flip side, this probably means that the water will stay pink until Maui gets some rain. And who knows when that will happen.
Pink but Not Alone
Curiously enough, Kealia Pond isn’t unique. Lake Hillier in Australia is pink virtually all the time.
The color of the lake, located on Middle Island off the southwestern Australian coast, is believed to be due to its only living inhabitants. The highly salty waters of Lake Hillier teem with Dunaliella salina.
These red algae produce pink dyes (for some reason) that have permanently dyed Lake Hillier. The water stays pink even if you scoop it into a bottle.
With Lake Hillier in mind, it’s possible that something similar is happening in Kealia Pond. That, however, just makes it even more likely that the pond won’t return to normal until it gets some fresh water.