Swimmers' urine kills hundreds of fish in a German lake

Around 500 fish have turned up dead in the Eichbaum lake in Germany and experts are saying that the reason for this is swimmers' urine

Sometimes, a person's leisure activity can really turn lethal for other beings as evidenced by the mass killing of fish in a German lake. According to details, around 500 fish have turned up dead in the Eichbaum lake in Germany and the cause behind it is swimmers' pee. The lake lies near the northern port city and it attracts a number of bathers in the summers. However, the recreation activity of many, turned into something lethal for the fish in that lake as proposed by a theory which has been put forward by the anglers. "Swimmers who urinate in the lake are introducing a lot of phosphate," Manfred Siedler, spokesman for the Hamburger Angling Association (ASV), told Bildnewspaper, according to a report by msnbc.com. "We're calculating half a litre of urine per swimmer per day."

However, it is common knowledge that the anglers and swimmers are each other's enemies, since the fishermen do not want swimmers in the lakes as they scare away fish. Experts are a bit skeptical about the whole issue, and they are saying that the swimmers' pee, might in fact, be harming the fish in the lake. The swimmers' pee released phosphate in the water, and phosphate leads to a build-up of blue-green algae in the water. The algae consumes a lot of oxygen and when it decays, it consumes even more oxygen suffocating the fish.

According to details, the authorities have already dumped around 148 tonnes of anti-phosphate agent, Bentophos in the lake, at a total cost of €516,000, but so far there has been no effect.

The skeptics of the Anglers' theory are saying that it is not the swimmers' pee which is killing all these fish, in fact, the fish may be dying due to other reasons. According to the city's Urban Development and Environment Authority, the ice-skaters have a big part to play in the fish's death as the ice skaters disturb the fish during winters and they wake up from their hibernation and die due to freezing and suffocation.

Till the time a conclusive answer is reached in the mysterious death of the fish, the lake Eichbaum has been closed off for all swimmers and investigations are going on.