Hawaiian pond turns pink

Shocking pink pond stuns visitors - 4th Dec 2023

No, it isn't Photoshop or a poor Instagram filter. Initially baffling local residents, this pond in Hawaii has turned vibrant pink, although experts soon identified the culprits – an abnormally long drought and a plethora of red bacteria.

Eye-catching it may be, but park rangers at Keālia Pond National Wildlife Refuge are strongly advising visitors to keep a safe distance from the strawberry-milk hued water, and not to let their pets drink from it.

While the phenomenon might call to mind red tides produced by algae, scientists blame a single-celled, red-tinted organism called 'halobacteria', which thrive in bodies of water with high salt levels, such as the Great Salt Lake or the Dead Sea.

The intriguing shade is emblematic of a larger issue, however. As little or no fresh water trickles into Keālia Pond, its salinity is raised to 70 parts per thousand, or twice the salt levels of seawater, making it the perfect breeding ground for halobacteria.

The meagre rainfall on Maui island over the past months has wrought havoc on wildlife and local economies alike. Across the last two decades, droughts have burdened the state with debts for millions of dollars, according to the Hawai'i Farm Bureau. Second to hurricanes, droughts are the natural disaster to incur the greatest impact on US coffers, threatening ranchers' livestock and magnifying the risk of destructive wildfires.

The wildlife refuge has witnessed a boom in visitor numbers, but not for the reasons manager Bret Wolfe might have been hoping for. "We prefer that they come to hear about our mission conserving native and endangered waterbirds and our wetland restorations," he stated cheerfully, "but no they're here to see the pink water.”

The reserve provides a natural habitat in which endangered species of waterfowl can nest, and despite rangers declaring that their birds don't appear to be badly affected, they advise visitors not to consume any fish from the wetland.

Since continued droughts have been forecast throughout the coming winter and spring as a result of El Niño, it looks like this rose-pink pond will carry on blushing.