Residents of the sleepless Ohio village woke up to find their bathrooms looking like a scene from a bathroom – their taps running with bright pink water and their toilet bowls filled with Pepto -bismuth-colored liquids. The unusual scene was first reported on the morning of June 3 in several homes in Coal Grove, a village in Lawrence County, Ohio, according to local WDTV 5 news reports. So, what happened?
According to one official, a pump fault occurred overnight at the local water plant, causing large amounts of sodium permanganate to be released into the water. No, that doesn’t mean you will develop qualities like a superhero overnight. Sodium permanganate is used to control the taste and odor of tap water by removing iron and magnesium from the water through the oxidation process. Somewhat ironic, usually it makes the clear water clearer and more fun. The chemical also has mild disinfectant properties so it helps block off the edges of biological growth such as small freshwater oysters that may be hidden in water treatment plants.
However, Last weekend saw more than 14 times that the dose was running out in the system. Under normal circumstances, it is treated with a dose of 1 to 3 mg of potassium permanganate per liter of water. About 3 kg (7 lbs) of sodium permanganate is added to the water supply per day at this particular Ohio water treatment plant.
Authorities said that despite the development of its color, the water was not dangerous to public health and could be drunk in small amounts when mixed. However, if you don’t want your favorite white shirt to turn hot pink, residents were advised not to wash their clothes with stuff. “I’ve got white hair,” Karen Grove resident Karen Turner told WCHS / WVAH eyewitness news. “I wonder what if I wash my hair in pink water.” Fortunately, the water has now returned to normal and the roses have been dispersed from the rose system, leaving most residents in trouble for only half a day.
Unknown, still a few weeks later, all over the world, a salt lake in Australia also got a beautiful pink color. A very similar incident occurred in March 2017 in the small Canadian town of Onoway. A jolt of hot weather and low rainfall caused Lake Melbourne to become saltier than normal, killing many of the lake’s natural inhabitants and allowing the Dunaliella salina algae to bloom. As a result, as you can see, the whole body was transformed into a shadow of the pink color of the water.
