Humans Peeing In Lake May Have Killed 500 Fish


From a young age we are told not to pee in pools when swimming, but what about lakes? Experts examining the recent death of 500 fish at the popular Eichbaum Lake location in northern Germany believe swimmers peeing in the lake may have caused an algae bloom which in turn killed the animals.

According to a spokesman for the Hamburger Angling Association in an interview with the Bild newspaper:

“Swimmers who urinate in the lake are introducing a lot of phosphate.”

The spokesman then continues:

“We’re calculating half a liter of urine per swimmer per day.”

When additional phosphate is added into an ecosystem it can create an abundance of blue-green algae, in this case so much of the substance was created that swimmers were actually banned from the lake until the system could be put under control.

In the meantime swimmers in the area are claiming that the leaky urine-algae angle is simply being created out of thin air so anglers can reclaim the lake for fishing purposes.

A group of environmentalists believe that the true problem could be created by ice skaters who wake up fish during their hibernation period. If the fish are woken up early they simply can not find the oxygen they need from underneath the ice and they eventually die. Opponents to the urine in the water theory say the death of the fish because of ice related issues is only now being discovered by chance.

A local university is expected to test the “urine-death” theory and the ice skating theory to see which one holds true.

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