What happens if saltwater is dumped into a lake with fish?
There answer to this question depends on a variety of factors: the initial salinity of the lake, the size of the lake and the amount of saltwater that is dumped into it.Saltwater LakesLakes that are already salty are unlikely to be affected by having more salt water dumped into them, nor will the fish that live there be affected.Freshwater LakesFreshwater lakes will be contaminated by having saltwater dumped into them, and if the quantity makes the lake too salty, the fish in the lake will die.ConcentrationThe salinity of the water being dumped is directly related to how much (or how little) of an effect it has on the lake and the fish, so the effect of a saltwater dump cannot be determined across the board.HurricanesAccording to Kelly Reetz, the naturalist at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores, Alabama, when a series of hurricanes dumped large quantities of ocean water into the lake there, most of the freshwater fish died because of the high salinity of the water.ExceptionsLake Shelby, Al
