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Danish water temps reach record highs

The Local Denmark
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Danish water temps reach record highs
The warm water temperatures at Amager Strandpark and other places is good for bathers, but not so good for wildlife in lakes. Photo: Andreas Beck/Scanpix 2014

Sea temperatures have been measured as high as 27C, but the rising temperature in the nation's lakes is having a dire impact on wildlife.

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TV2’s ‘Bathing Patrol’ has been measuring temperatures in Danish waters for 19 years and their thermometers have never measured warmer waterthan on Tuesday afternoon off the coast of Lolland.
 
The water there was 27C, matching the highest temperature since the measurements began in 1996. The water has been that hot just two other times - August 9th, 2003 and July 10th, 2010. All three of the record temperatures were found at Lolland’s Hestehovedet Beach.
 
The Bathing Patrol measurements elsewhere on Tuesday ranged between 19-25C. 
 
But while warmer waters around Denmark may be good news for bathers, some aquatic life is suffering. 
 
P4 København reported that large numbers of dead fish and birds are turning up dead in Sankt Jørgens Lake in Copenhagen. 
 
Denmark’s extended warm stretch has caused Clostridium botulinum, the bacteria that causes botulism, to flourish to the detriment of animals who depend on the lakes. 
 
“When the birds eat, they consume these bacteria and die from it. The fish are dying primarily from a lack of oxygen, but [Clostridium botulinum] is also poisonous for them,” Copenhagen city official Bianka Saarnak told P4 København.
 
The 25C water temperature measured this summer in Sankt Jørgens Lake is the highest ever recorded, Saarnak said. 

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