[imagesource: Instagram / Matt Newey]

Here’s a story to persuade you not to compare yourself to the people on social media who seem to be having a ball, because things are never as they seem.

It all starts with a beautiful picture posted on Instagram of people kayaking in bright blue water.

The colours are brilliant, but the reality… maybe not so much.

The picture, first posted by Matt Newey, is of the salt flats and aqueducts in Utah, which are so picturesque that Instagram influencers and photographers have since been piling along the highway and walking ages to get their own photo.

But it turns out the waterways are actually drainage systems for the nearby mining operation and are definitely not meant for leisure activities.

Via The Independent:

…the so-called “blue canal” is located just east of the Bonneville Salt Flats in western Utah, and is leased by mining company Intrepid Potash, which uses the canal as a drainage ditch.

Take a look at Newey’s post on Instagram:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Matt Newey (@mattcnewey)

Influencers really will do anything to get their money shot, hey?

I mean, it’s become so blown up that there’s a whole documentary about it, too.

If you search #bluecanal on Instagram, you’ll see plenty of photos featuring that alluring looking water.

Government agencies were alarmed to see people kayaking and swimming in the canal, with Utah’s Bureau of Land Management issuing a statement:

“The canals are industrial facilities leased to Intrepid Potash for potash mining activities and are not designed or safe for public recreation.

Therefore, the public should not access, swim, float, kayak, canoe, or pursue any other recreation activities in these industrial canals.

In addition, the Utah Highway Patrol has indicated that parking along I-80 to access to the canals is illegal and extremely dangerous due to the proximity to the interstate highway.”

But Newey is adamant that the problem is not with the water itself, but the parking situation that he said “looked like a Disneyland parking lot”.

Newey, is this really you just trying to make the spot all yours again?

A geologist from the University of Utah says the water is not necessarily toxic, but that people probably shouldn’t swim in it.

The authorities, on the other hand, are absolutely adamant that it is a no-go zone.

Here’s a video for more:

Whether the problem is with the water or the parking situation, Instagrammers and the like might have to let this hotspot cool down for a bit.

[source:independent]