The water at South Gloucestershire surfing lake The Wave has turned green - but the attraction says it's still "completely safe" to enter, despite the unusual colour. The popular inland surf destination, in Easter Compton near Bristol, attracts surfers from all over the country.
It plans to expand to more locations to meet demand. It has two artificial wave pools on either side of a walkway over the water where spectators can gather, and usually the water there is an inviting turquoise blue. However, in the past few weeks it has turned "decidedly green" and it is not clear how long it will stay like that for.
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Regulars have been taking to social media to question what has happened. Commenting on Instagram yesterday, one surfer asked: "What is the plan for the Green water? It's not very pleasant, although hopefully safe for users?"
Another surfer who contacted Bristol Live , who preferred not to be named, questioned this. He suggested sharing water quality test results would offer more reassurance.
Responding to the concerns, a spokesperson said: "If you have visited recently then you will have noticed that our water isn’t its usual turquoise colour. The heatwave with its unusually high temperatures and extremely high UV levels in August has caused an algae bloom – which although not harmful at all, does make the lake look decidedly green!
"This is a problem being experienced by lakes, lidos and bodies of waters across the UK. The experts we are working with have identified the rare algae and confirmed that it is not harmful at all and being in the water will not impact our surfers’ health in any way.
"We test our water every day to monitor chlorine and PH levels, and it is also regularly tested for bacteria levels by an external water hygiene laboratory. All tests show that the water is completely safe.
"We have a very good filtration system, but the level and rare variety of bloom - and the rate at which it developed - means it cannot remove the green algae quickly enough. We are working with top water quality experts to source solutions to speed up the process, but at the moment we cannot give a definitive timescale as to when our water will be back to our usual standards.
"Rest assured the water is safe and we are working on getting back to blue as soon as we can." The attraction has thanked surfers for their patience. Yesterday it announced its winter surf sessions on Facebook, with people able to book up until New Year's Eve.
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