The bizarre reason Bondi's street lights are turning purple

Residents of Sydney's Bondi Beach are baffled after their street lights suddenly started glowing a majestic purply-blue.

A confused local took a photo capturing the beachside haze and shared the scene on Reddit on Tuesday night with the hope someone could offer an explanation. "Coming down to the beach at night, I’ve noticed that the street lights on the beach side of Campbell Parade are all a blue-purple hue," they said on Reddit. "Is there any reason for this?"

Many questioned why the lights randomly changed from white, as well as if there are any health impacts. Yahoo News reached out to Waverley Council for an answer.

"We are aware of the blue light being emitted from the lights along Campbell Parade and have identified a fault with the batch of luminaires installed," a spokeswoman said. "Council is working with the supplier to rectify the issue. We anticipate to have the luminaires repaired or replaced as soon as possible."

Purple street light defect observed worldwide

It turns out, the faulty LED bulbs are not just radiating bright colours in Bondi, but nationally and internationally due to defects worldwide. Over the last few years areas in North America such as Vancouver, California, New Mexico and Wisconsin observed purple LED street lights, as well as places in the UK like Ireland, Business Insider reports.

"I've had people call and ask if this was because it's Halloween, or because their football team in that area wears purple," Jeff Brooks, a spokesman for large streetlight supplier, Duke Power, told the publication.

But what's causing the defect? A study says heat damage is to blame. Meaning a mistake in either assembling or creating the bulb can make it more susceptible to warmer weather, causing the light to leak a bluey-purple, according to a study.

Are LED lights good?

Since 2018, Ausgrid started installing LED street lights across 33 LGA's — including Waverley Council —thanks to a bid by the NSW government to be more sustainable and lower energy consumption. By replacing the usual fluorescent lamps, they are also cutting down on maintenance costs as LED lights are meant to last for much longer if not faulty and made of good quality.

This was pointed out by one Reddit user, who commented "cheap LED lights are a curse". "Not saying the old methods were better (fluorescent is garbage), but the quality control of LEDs installed on value engineered (i.e. govt) projects is atrocious. Next time you're on a Waratah [in Newcastle] train look up at the lights and see the dots of various different shades of white," they wrote.

• Family 'devastated' after council complaint over Christmas lights

• Coles customer baffled by supermarket's 'insane' used-by date rule

• New York City map reveals horrifying statistic: 'Turn off the lights'

There have been issues associated with LED lights when it comes to suppressing melatonin and influencing your sleep, according to an American Medical Association study, having five times more impact than normal street lamps.

"Imagine having to live next to one of those street lamps and constantly have sleep problems," one person commented on the Reddit post.

The blue light generated is also said to be harmful to animals such as bats. However places like the Netherlands have adopted a bat-friendly LED bulb that has a more red tinge, meaning these problems are fixable. As we move into the future, more and more lights will also be able to have smart controls which can help detect faults, decrease brightness, optimise maintenance and measure energy use.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.