Polluted Chinese lake looks just like an oil painting

Giving the wrong impression ... lake looks like impressionist oil painting

But the amazing snap — which looks like a painting by impressionist painter Claude Monet — is an actual photograph of a heavily polluted lake in Anhui province, China.

Slime ... algae scooped from the water

Rather than paint, the heavy green substance on the surface of the water is actually ALGAE.

The tiny organisms have grown super-fast — due to contamination from chemical fertilisers — and covered the lake in a thick green slime.

China’s water systems were criticised recently when thousands of dead pigs were found in one of Shanghai’s main rivers.

Polluted ... clean-up operation in China

And pollution from the country’s huge industrial sector is a major concern for new president Xi Jinping.

River runs red ... a girl scoops up some bright red polluted water

His government has already pledged to invest £570billion over the next decade to improve the water supply system.

Green fingers ... Chinese kids go fishing