Posted on 08/13/2016 8:02:17 PM PDT by PROCON
RIO DE JANEIRO — Olympics officials on Saturday gave what they said was a definitive explanation why the water in two competition pools turned green this week. Someone, the officials said, mistakenly added 160 liters of hydrogen peroxide on Aug. 5, neutralizing the chlorine and allowing the growth of “organic compounds” that might have included algae.
On Saturday, the water in the diving pool was still a murky bottle-green color, while the water in the second pool, used for water polo and synchronized swimming, had begun to look a bit lighter and a bit bluer. Athletes have been complaining that the water or the chemicals treating it hurt their eyes, and that murkiness makes underwater visibility impossible.
Synchronized swimming, in which athletes have to be able to see each other below the surface, is scheduled to start Sunday. Mario Andrada, a spokesman for the Rio Games, said that to ensure that the competition could go ahead, officials would drain the water from the pool — all 3,725,000 liters of it — and replace it with clean water from a nearby practice pool.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I doubt their “potable” water is any cleaner
Agree. I’ve only seen similar in pools that have been left unmaintained for months (winter, etc.). Gross, isn’t it? I think some tweets said it smelled bad, too. Yikes.
But I thought the science was settled!
It’s 2016, someone needs to order ozone machines for these pools. I put one in my hot tub and cut chlorine usage by 60%. Ozone is 2000 times stronger than chlorine, many municipal water works are using them now. It’s not rocket surgery. Best $200 buck I’ve ever spent.
>>Also...I’d expect that somebody would be testing the water daily, during an event like this.
Daily!? Half a dozen times a day, minimum.
Pool chemistry is simply not rocket science. Head lifeguards across the fruited plain manage it daily in summertime. Taylor Technologies would have been glad to send an expert at very nominal cost to advise the Rio Organizing Committee, I’m sure.
What’s the over/under on the post-Olympic cover up concerning serious ill athletes all across the GLOBE?
= = = = = = = = = = = =
And just WHO do you think will end up paying for all the health care and the subsequent SSD payments to the permanently ‘disabled’ - especially the ‘trauma’ victims etc etc etc
We should be throwing a ‘net’ over the country while those in charge (on BOTH sides of the aisle) want to open all the doors and throw away the keys.
I tried it once. You know. To bleach my back hair. I think the ratio was incorrect.
What in the heck????
Just why???
Oh but all cultures are the same.....
We had been primed to expect the polluted waters of the bay but who expected they couldn’t even manage a lousy clean swimming pool?
They shouldn’t. It has no business being thete
Yup it self identified don’t ya know?
Also, testing a pool is quite easy. If you’re a professional, you might test every day. It’s easy to say, “Whoa! We have no chlorine!! That’s odd! I added a lot yesterday!” It should take about 24 hrs — maybe 48 hrs — to find out that H2O2 has been substituted for chlorine. And it should take 24 hrs — maybe 48 hrs — to get the balance back where it belongs.
Unless something else is going on. I mean: beyond total incompetence.
Should be testing every couple of hours
It sounds like they may not have that much new water. They are taking it from a practice pool...:^)
shows how quick “global warming” can screw things up!!!!
That’s what I keep thinking.
I am in property mgt. I have seen pools go green. But not crystal clear and stink.
I called a couple of pool maintenance guys I know. They both said...beats the heck out of me.
Me too, but it’s much easier with a salt water generator. The only time I ever had water that color was when copper got in there somehow and that was fix that took only a few hours.
Pool water chemistry is really not that hard. Quite embarrassing for Brazil that this happened.
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