A pond straight out of Barbieland
A pond in Hawaii has turned so bubble-gum pink it could be from the set of Barbie, but the bizarre phenomenon is no cause for a dance party. Drought may be to blame for the strange hue, scientists say, and they’re warning against entering the water or drinking it.
Staff at the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge on Maui have been monitoring the pink water since October 30.
“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,”’ said Bret Wolfe, the refuge manager.
Wolfe was concerned the bright pink could be a sign of an algae bloom, but lab tests found toxic algae was not causing the colour. Instead an organism called halobacteria might be the culprit.
Halobacteria are a type of archaea or single-celled organism that thrive in bodies of water with high levels of salt.
Maui’s drought is likely contributing to the situation. Normally Waikapu Stream feeds into Kealia Pond and raises water levels there, but Wolfe said that hasn’t happened in a long time.
When it rains, the stream will flow into Kealia’s main pond and then into the outlet area that’s now pink. This will reduce the salinity and potentially change the water’s colour.
No one at the refuge has seen the pond this colour before — not even volunteers who have been around it for 70 years. Curious visitors have flocked to the park after photos of the pink pond appeared on social media.
“We prefer that they come to hear about our our mission conserving native and endangered waterbirds and our wetland restorations. But no, they’re here to see the pink water,” Wolfe joked.