So from any movie/series I’ve watched or even documentaries the waters of lakes/rivers/sea in the US always look greenish. I’m from Greece and the waters here are blue or clear. Why is that in the US?
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It’s not limited to the USA, you’d see a similar phenomenon in much of Northern Europe and many other places.
Basically, water color is largely related to the stuff suspended in the water. If there’s nothing at all, the water tends to look blue. Suspended mud and sediment cause a brownish tint. Suspended algae cells cause a greenish tint. The waters around Greece are pretty nutrient poor, like many warm oceanic waters, and as a result have very little planktonic algae and have that beautiful blue color. The waters of the Northern Atlantic and Pacific have more nutrients and have a greenish tint from the planktonic algae. The Gulf of Mexico in some times and places is quite blue, but in general the Mississippi draining into it gives a green tint to much of the gulf coast waters. And most of the inland water photos you see of the USA are of reservoirs where water is held and planktonic algae gets a chance to grow.
Algae blooms can very definitely be very bad if they happen in the wrong place or blooms are too thick, but the basic greenish tint of especially the northern oceans is just the color they are supposed to be and represents the productivity that forms the base of the aquatic food chains in those areas. It’s one reason fishing grounds off the coasts of the country are so productive, if not quite as pretty.
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