The shocking truth of this Spanish Lake!
The Influencers of Instagram go to any lengths to get that perfect click to showcase on their timeline. A lot of filtering, photo-shopping, and makeup goes into building up their enviable Insta profiles. Those who are professional tourists, or just tourists, love to have the best background for their clicks. Sometimes they are even ready to risk it all to achieve a suitable background for the one perfect photo.
One lake in Spain is making many people fall in love with it as its water looks like a distant cousin of the Maldives. The mesmerizing and bright turquoise waters of the lake are the reason people are flocking to it and getting their desired ideal pics. Situated at Mount Neme, in the north-western region of Galicia, the lake has become an International attraction in a short time.
While most people are content with getting their pictures clicked by posing around the lake, some of them are entering it for more creativity and perfection. That’s when they are coming to terms with the reality of the lake.
There’s just nothing beautiful with the lake apart from the looks. The site is actually a neglected quarry which is connected to a nearby Tungsten mine. The light blue waters of the lake are due to toxic chemical contamination and the pit’s silica sand.
Many of those who jumped into the lake waters have fallen ill, reporting various health issues like skin rashes, vomiting, diarrhea, and other stomach problems. One person who swam in the lake had a rash that lasted for two weeks and started throwing up. Another person was hospitalized for damages to the digestive system and skin!
Nicknamed as the “Galician Chernobyl,” it was around the year 1915, that this site was used for the mine extraction of wolfram. Wolfram is an iron manganese tungstate mineral, used to craft light bulb filament. For a while, the site became a key economic hub of the area, but gradually fell into decline and it was closed for good by the 1980s.
Those who knew the real nature of the lake or experienced it started to warn others about it, but that didn’t deter like obsessed Instagram addicts from venturing into it. One such influencer who suffered some serious rashes, in fact, stated that “the picture was worth it.”
Galicia’s water agency also confirmed the presence of high levels of Aluminium and a low pH of the water, validating the acidic nature of the lake. A doctor at the University Hospital of Coruna, Manuel Ferreiro, is warning people of the potential health risks of the Monte Neme waters; stating that brief exposure will mostly cause skin and eye irritation, but a prolonged time in the water will cause vomiting, diarrhea and other stomach problems because of the digestion of toxins.
A local environment lobby group called “Selvemos Cabana” is pushing the legislators to limit the public access to the area and put up warning signs about its dangers. This is not the first place to have got famous because of social media professionals hungry for likes. A man-made lake in Siberia, in the city of Novosibirsk, has attracted hundreds of people because of its turquoise like sky blue waters.
But the lake actually is an Ash dump from a local coal plant. It is a highly alkaline solution that contains multiple calcium salts and metal oxides. Truly, people of today are preferring being the best on social media than their health. Let’s see which is the next ugly place in line to become famous.
Image credits: Google News.
