Wetlands turn the color of ‘strawberry milk’ in Australia. See the ‘rare’ phenomenon
Normally, if you walk through the Boondall Wetlands in eastern Australia, the walkways and trails are surrounded by muddy brown water. Recently, however, the water has turned bright pink.
The striking color caught the attention of Brisbane due to a Reddit post on Oct. 2. The post showed a picture of the bubblegum-colored wetlands and suggested it was caused by pollution.
The pinkish hue was actually a naturally occurring phenomenon, Brisbane City Council told 10 News First Queensland.
“It’s been very dry recently; this is what’s contributed to the change in the color of the water,” the Brisbane City Council Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner told 7 News.
“Warmer weather and low rainfall can lead to less water flow and higher salt levels, causing the algae and bacteria in the water to turn pink,” the Brisbane City Council told 10 News First Queensland.
“I think that’s what we’re seeing here, a concentration of pink algae,” Michele Burford, a researcher at Griffith University’s Australian Rivers Institute, told 9 News.
“It’s quite rare,” Schrinner told 9 News.
Photos show the Boondall Wetlands’ weather-induced makeover. 9 News said it looked “like a scene straight out of Barbie Land.”
One Reddit user described it as “forbidden strawberry milk.”
The pink waters aren’t expected to hold their color for very long, Burford told Yahoo News Australia.
“It’s a good idea for people if they see it not to go wading around in it, just in case,” Burford told the outlet. “It’s hard to say for sure [if it’s toxic] but it’s always a good precautionary principle.”
The Brisbane City Council did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ Oct. 4 request for comment.
The Boondall Wetlands are along the coast of Brisbane, about 560 miles northeast of Sydney.
This story was originally published October 4, 2023 at 1:10 PM with the headline "Wetlands turn the color of ‘strawberry milk’ in Australia. See the ‘rare’ phenomenon."
