How did the lake near the Dead Sea become blood-colored?

Locals and authorities in Jordan were alarmed when a small reservoir near the Dead Sea suddenly turned blood red.

In the pictures shared by many users on social media, the water of the pond can be seen in deep red color, but the reason for this sudden change in the color of the water is not yet clear.

According to a report in the Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post, the Jordanian Ministry of Water Resources took water samples from the pond on Saturday and dispatched technical teams for further tests to determine the cause of the change in the water’s color.

The results of these tests are expected to be released in a few days.

One user on social media compared the red color of the water to the ‘blood plague’ described in the Bible, but experts say biochemical and human intervention cannot be ruled out as possible causes.

The head of the Jordanian Association of Geologists, Sakhar al-Nasour, told Jordan’s Al-Ghad newspaper that “the change in the color of the pond water can also be caused by the addition of moss, iron oxide or human-made additives that make the water turned red.’

Water Resources Ministry officials pointed out that the pool whose water turned red is isolated from the Dead Sea and is not very large in size.

This is the second instance in two years of water bodies turning red in the region.

Earlier, according to the Society for the Protection of Nature, the Alexander River in Israel turned red in May last year due to blood flowing from adjacent slaughterhouses.