Family Find Abandoned Pool Filled With Green Water, Decide to Go Swimming - Newsweek

A family exploring in the Israeli desert stumbled across an old pool and decided to take a plunge, despite the color of the water.

Simcha Sher, a 31-year-old native of Upstate New York who now lives in Israel, shared a video of the discovery she made with her husband and their three-year-old son on Instagram.

"I was just traveling around where we live in Israel," she told Newsweek. "We had heard there was some kind of watering hole, but when we got there it was green."

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The Instagram video, which has been viewed 8.5 million times since it was shared on July 21, shows the green pool in the middle of nowhere, with Sher's husband and young son deciding to get in for a dip.

"When you're in the middle of the Judean desert and you find a pool???" she wrote in the video's caption. "There's a reason I wasn't inside any of these videos ha ha I was a little grossed out, but it was kind of unbelievable to see this pool with miles and miles of nothing around it!"

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The family lives just outside of Jerusalem and were hiking around the area trying to find this pool that they had heard of.

"I didn't really go in but my husband and son went in and they were both fine," Sher told Newsweek. "I got literally thousands and thousands of comments saying we were going to die from flesh eating bacteria. I was so freaked out by people's reactions.

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"When I saw the pool, I was like, 'this is incredible.' This must be an ancient cistern in the Judean desert of Israel. It was just so cool, there was literally nothing for miles and miles, except for this tiny pool.

"The desert has its sort of own wild empty beauty that there is nobody there."

According to Pool Research, a pool of water most likely turns green because of algae, plants that thrive in water when it has the necessary food and a hospitable environment. Algae can be introduced to water when foreign bodies enter.

The CDC says that exposure to algae can cause mild and serious illness. Symptoms can include stomach pain, coughing, headaches and rashes.

Sher's video got quite a strong reaction from viewers, who took to the comments section to share their thoughts, after the creator asked if people would have gone into the water.

"Yes of course!" wrote @benkglass. "Green algae means it's alive and healthy water as long as it's not brown!"

Meanwhile, @staceycampagnano said: "Brain eating bacteria anyone?"

@foreveralicia quipped: "Now they glow at night."

@bsuushii commented: "If you come across kind of any random body of water in the middle of the desert, you should always assume it's for industrial use. People aren't just building pools in the desert for fun."

Responding to the mixed comments, Sher said: "Yall's reaction has me SHOCKED. How long until I get the flesh eating bacteria? (We entered three days ago)."

Brian Dillon is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on travel and home. He has covered travel destinations and trends extensively. Brian joined Newsweek in 2024 from the Irish Star US. He is a graduate of Dublin City University. You can get in touch with Jane by emailing @[email protected]. Languages: English.

Brian Dillon is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on travel and home. He has ...Read more