Police in UK dye blue lagoon black to ward off pesky influencers who should be staying home

If you dye it, they will not come.

Police in Buxton, England found a clever way to prevent would-be influencers from flocking to the town's Instagrammable Caribbean-blue quarry lake — they dumped buckets of black dye in the water and called it a day.

According to a Facebook post by the local police department, they'd received calls complaining of people gathering at the picturesque "Blue Lagoon." The UK government instituted a stay-at-home order last week to combat the on-going coronavirus pandemic, and gatherings that break the new rules can result in fines issued by police.

So rather than continually going out to the water spot to hand out fines, police decided to make it look less appealing.

The water's tropical blue color is a result of its toxicity. According to The Independent, the water has a pH level of 11.3, and nearly matches that of bleach. Not exactly beachy, but it does look like a vacation spot you'd see on an Instagram influencer's account.

This isn't the first time police have dyed the water black. The tactic has been used in the past to deter swimmers (reminder: the water is basically bleach!) from wading into the lake.

Maybe instead of risking your health and the health of others, just change your Zoom background to a Thailand beach or something.