Heavy rain slowed the flow of new chemicals added to the water which was also green in the pool used for the synchronised swimming and water-polo. The larger pool – used for water polo and synchronized swimming – began to turn the same color the following day.
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Pressed on whether algae had formed in the pool, creating the green hue in one pool and then the other, Nascimento said: “We do not know the reason why it went green”. Still, visibility underwater is a major issue in synchronized swimming, where competitors spend lots of time underwater and need to be able to see their teammates.
“This (replacement operation) will be done overnight”.
Olympic organizers have been scrambling to gain control of the situation since the waters of the diving pool mysteriously changed color Monday night.
Meanwhile, Mario Andrada, the spokesman of Rio 2016 commented that it was an embarrassment.
Gustavo Nascimento, director of venue management for the Rio Olympics, told reporters Saturday that hydrogen peroxide works as a pool-cleaning agent except when it combines with chlorine. He further said that they were not consulted and their contractor’s failure is their failure, as noted by Independent.
Why so green? Olympic organisers have admitted a chemical mix-up. “The electronic monitoring system that measures the amount of chlorine in the water was betrayed by this chemistry”, he said.
Treatment will continue in the diving pool but the water will not be drained as the colour does not seem to concern the athletes as much, Mr Nascimento added.
To treat the water, officials have been trying to make the algae more dense so that it can be cleaned up.
Nascimento said the process of replacing the waters would take about 10 hours and is expected to complete by 7 a.m. on Sunday, four hours ahead of the first synchronized swimming event of the games.
Rio 2016 have repeatedly insisted there will be no health risks associated with the green-tinged water, dubbed “the swamp” by divers.
Water polo athletes had complained of itchy eyes after the pools turned from light blue to green.
Of course it is an embarrassment because we are hosting the Olympic Games. “We should and could have done better in fixing it quickly”, Andrada said.
The women’s 3-metre springboard final is at 4 pm. “So it has some impact but it’s not a big problem”.
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The colour change has been blamed on a contractor, who apparently dumped around 80 litres of hydrogen peroxide into the pool by mistake. “We’re all in this together”.
