The family finds an abandoned swimming pool full of green water, decides to go swimming

A family exploring the Israeli desert came across an ancient swimming pool and decided to take a dip, despite the color of the water.

Simcha Sher, a 31-year-old New York native who now lives in Israel, shared a video of the discovery she made with her husband and three-year-old son on Instagram.

“I was traveling through where we live in Israel,” he said Newsweek. “We had heard there was some kind of watering hole, but when we got there it was green.”

The Instagram video, which has been viewed 8.5 million times since it was shared on July 21, shows the green pool in the middle of nowhere, with Sher’s husband and young son deciding to take a dip .

“When you’re in the middle of the Judean desert and you find a pool???” he wrote in the caption of the video. “There’s a reason I wasn’t in any of these videos, ha ha, it freaked me out a bit, but it was kind of amazing to see this pool with miles and miles of nothing around it!”

The family lives on the outskirts of Jerusalem and were walking around the area trying to find this pool they had heard about.

“I didn’t actually go in, but my husband and son did and they were both fine,” Sher said Newsweek. “I got literally thousands and thousands of comments saying we were going to die from flesh-eating bacteria. I was so scared of people’s reactions.

“When I saw the pool, I said, ‘This is amazing.’ This must have been an ancient cistern in the Judean desert of Israel. It was so cool, there was literally nothing for miles and miles except for this little pool.

“The desert has its own kind of wild empty beauty that no one is in.”

According to Pool Research, a pool of water probably turns green due to algae, plants that thrive in water when it has the necessary food and a hospitable environment. Algae can be introduced into the water when foreign bodies enter.

The CDC says exposure to algae can cause mild to severe illness. Symptoms can include stomach pain, cough, headaches and rashes.

Sher’s video got a pretty strong reaction from viewers, who took to the comments section to share their thoughts, after the creator asked if people would have gone into the water.

“Yes, of course!” wrote @benkglass. “Green algae means it’s living, healthy water as long as it’s not brown!”

Meanwhile, @staceycampagnano said, “Does anyone eat bacteria brains?”

@foreveralicia quipped: “Now they glow at night.”

@bsuushii commented: “If you come across any kind of random water in the middle of the desert, you should always assume it’s for industrial use. People don’t just build pools in the desert for fun.”

Responding to the conflicting comments, Sher said, “Yall’s reaction has surprised me. How long until I get the flesh-eating bacteria? (We came in three days ago).”