Photo: Getty Images
Lake Merritt has banned swimming in Oakland's lake since 1897.Apparently, that didn't stop a couple from enjoying their holiday weekend by seemingly having a race swimming in the unfiltered water!
Besides being illegal, there are numerous reasons why many would never swim in Lake Merritt. For starters, in the early 1900's 90% of the city’s sewage wound up in Lake Merritt’s waters. That's no longer the case now but some sewage can still end up in the lake in instances where a pipe bursts and there is leakage or seeping. Also, there have been reports of people getting scabies after swimming in the lake!
Locals have always avoided the "Lake of 1,000" smells and reacted to the viral video on social media with comments like:
Even the craziest crackheads won’t swim in Lake Merritt. Hope the whites who went for a “splash” today get west nile virus
I’m not about to play with these white people swimming in Lake Merritt! In my whole life, shooo in my whole Grandaddy’s life, never have I ever seen anyone swim in this lake.. it stank, dirty, like I’m so alarmed lol like whyyyyy