Portal latinoamericano de toxicología
Families ignore warnings and swim in toxic Blue Lagoon, in Harpur Hill, near Buxton, Derbyshire, UK
13 August, 2012
The poison Blue Lagoon: It might look inviting, but the water is almost as toxic as bleach. By Andy Dolan. dailymail.co.uk. August 12, 2012. Water contains car wrecks, dead animals, excrement and rubbish… but families still go in for a dip. Lake in former limestone quarry measures pH 11.3, just less than ammonia at 11.5pH and bleach at 12.6pH.They call it the Blue Lagoon, and people come from far and wide to cool off in its clear waters. Yet the flooded former quarry is so polluted that its contents are almost as toxic as bleach.Signs close to the shoreline warn that not only is the water known to contain abandoned cars, dead animals and human waste, but it has a pH level of 11.3 – compared with 12.6 for bleach and 11.5 for ammonia.
They state how the water is toxic enough to cause ‘skin and eye irritations, stomach problems and fungal infections’.Yet parents have been spotted pulling their babies around in rubber rings on the water, while families, groups of youths and even stag parties all regularly make the trek to the lake.Caitlin Bisknell, a local councillor, said the site at Harpur Hill, near Buxton, on the fringe of Derbyshire’s Peak District, had been attracting sunbathers and swimmers for at least the last decade.
But she said the problem has grown over recent years after visitors began posting pictures of the lagoon on the internet.Over the weekend, a family from Stockport, 20 miles away, were among those ignoring the dangers to splash about in the former limestone quarry.Boys aged five and six played with old plastic bottles and milk cartons in the water as their mother, Sam Ahmed, looked on from the shore. The 36-year-old said she had seen the signs but was not concerned. ‘I have told the children not to swallow any water or go in deeper than their necks,’ she said. ‘It is so beautiful and blue now the sun’s out.’The attractive colouring of the water is caused by the surrounding limestone rocks which leach calcite crystals into the water, turning it turquoise.The alkalinity comes from calcium oxide, a white powder which would have originally been left around the site as a by-product of the quarrying process.Last month, residents presented High Peak Borough Council and Derbyshire County Council with a 760-name petition calling for action to stop people from visiting the site. ‘But because it is privately owned, neither police nor the local authorities have powers of enforcement there.County councillor Pam Reddy, who lives in Harpur Hill, said: ‘The site is not just a health hazard, it causes untold problems for villagers with cars blocking roads.‘We have tried to get the site drained, but the water board will not drain it into the water supply because it is so toxic.’
Watch more photos in original article.