Couple turns waterfall blue for gender reveal, contaminating town’s water supply

Screengrabs from video tweeted by @lazarothor1

A couple in Brazil is under fire for turning a waterfall blue as part of a gender reveal stunt. According to The Independent, Brazil’s environment ministry is now investigating the unidentified couple for polluting the Queima Pé river, which is the primary water source for a nearby town.

The couple sparked massive public backlash after posting an Instagram video of their gender reveal party. The clip, which was soon deleted, showed guests cheering as the waterfall turned blue to indicate the couple would be having a baby boy. Blue smoke was also used in the gender reveal party, and the video showed a giant stork made of white balloons placed next to the waterfall.

Although the original Instagram video was deleted, copies were shared thousands of times on Twitter and Reddit, where many slammed the couple of polluting a waterfall in the name of a party.

Um casal de Tangará da Serra (MT) decidiu tingir de azul uma cachoeira para anunciar que o filho que estão esperando é menino. Os vídeos publicados no Instagram foram apagados depois da repercussão negativa. pic.twitter.com/Kw4wRmg0Se

— Lázaro Thor (@lazarothor1) September 26, 2022

Brazil’s environmental authority SEMA (Secretaria de Estado de Meio Ambiente do Mato Grosso) is investigating the extent of environmental damage caused by turning the waterfall blue.

According to SEMA, the couple held their gender reveal on a private property on Sunday. The waterfall they dyed blue is part of the Queima Pé River, which supplies water to the nearby town of Tangará da Serra.

“Sema-MT will notify the owners of the area so that they can inform who were responsible and will determine if there was environmental damage, depending on the material released into the water,” said SEMA in a press release.