Azure blue water that shines tropical in the sunlight; the ‘Maldives in Siberia’ as the lake is called at Novosibirsk. And so it attracts a lot of Instagrammers who take selfies with a perfect paradise background. Not a good idea. Lake turquoise is the landfill of a power plant, full of harmful metal oxides.
The beautiful blue color of the artificial lake at Novosibirsk is caused by dangerous calcium salts and other metal oxides, coming from the nearby thermal power plant that supplies the city with energy.
“Stay away from the water!”
In response to the many selfies around and even in the water, the Russian company operating the power plant made a call last month: “Stay away from the water”.
“Our landfill has become known on social networks,” it sounded. “But the water is highly alkaline. Don’t swim in the lake and don’t drink the water. Even short skin contact can lead to an allergic reaction.” Moreover, dumb Daredevil may remain stuck in the lake, as the soil is very muddy. “Getting out of the reservoir without help is practically impossible.”
Popular
Strangely enough, the warning has failed. More people come to take a look and take fun pictures of the lake. “It’s not Chernobyl, but it’s still dangerous,” one Instagram user wrote jokingly at a picture of himself, leaning on the shore. There is now even an Instagram page that collects the many photos of people at the site.
Unicorn
Someone else posted a picture on an inflatable unicorn, with the scoffing epitaph: “it’s not dangerous to swim here. The next morning my legs were a little red and itched for two days. But after that, everything was fine. What don’t you do for pictures like this?” He added that the water tastes “a bit sour.” A joke, hopefully.
The company recently warned again. “Even walking along the water is like walking at a military shooting range: dangerous and undesirable. We ask all those who pursue selfies to definitely NOT go into the water. That is DANGEROUS.”
