Black water clean

Black water river

• by the name
• you might think that this post is going to be about pollution
• but it’s not
• not at all, in fact
• there are just some rivers that are naturally black
• well
• not entirely black
• they have a very very dark brown color
• something like tea or black coffee

• black water rivers
• are slow moving bodies of water that flow through forested swamps and wetlands
• vegetation decays and releases tannins
• which are astringent biomolecules found in plant tissue
• the release of tannins is the cause for the dark water coloration
• and that makes a lot of sense
• considering tea leaves and coffee beans have a really high tannin content
• most black water rivers are found in the Southern United States or in South America
• and are not to be confused with rivers that look black but are not black water
• some rivers may have dark colored water just because the soil or loam at the bottom has been disturbed
• but the color is not due to tannins

How names can mislead us. No pollution here at all. And thank goodness. I’m quite glad coffee isn’t poison.