Water in Lonar Lake Turns Pink, Find Out Why?

Experts say the colour has changed due to the salinity and presence of algae in the water body. This is not the first time that the colour is changing but this time it is glowing. 

Lately, the change in the colour has not only surprised locals, but also nature enthusiasts and scientists. 

According to PTI, the lake is a notified national geo-heritage monument and has saline water with a pH of 10.5. 

According to Gajanan Kharat, the member of the Lonar lake conservation and development committee said that there is no oxygen below one meter of the lake's water surface. Even a lake in Iran also turns reddish due to the increase in salinity. 

Gajanan Kharat also noted that the low level of water may lead to increased salinity and change in the behaviour of algae because of atmospheric changes. The level of water in the Lonar lake is currently low as compared to the few past years and there is no rain to pour fresh water in it. 

Dr Madan Suryavanshi, head of the geography department of Aurangabad's Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, said looking at the scale of this colour change, "this can't be a human intervention". 

Dr Madan Suryavanshi told PTI that in case of a natural phenomenon, there are fungi which generally give a greenish colour to water most of the time, but the current colour change seems to be a biological change in the Lonar crater. 

During the lockdown phase, there may not have been any disturbance to water which led to this change, he said.