Environment

This Olympian Just Pointed out Something Disturbing About the Rio Pools

August 9th 2016

The pools of Rio de Janeiro, home of the 2016 Olympics, are going green, but not in the environmentally friendly way we're used to — quite the opposite, actually.

British Olympic diver Tom Daley tweeted a photo on Tuesday that merits a second a glance. Accompanied by the caption "Ermmm...what happened?!" the image shows two Olympic swimming pools side by side: one a soothing blue color; one tinged green.

The below photo by Deadspin's Screengrabber shows how the pool in question appeared Monday (left) versus how it appeared Tuesday (right) The image serves to further illustrate what's turning out to be the gross state of the 2016 Olympics, which have been replete with biohazards, especially in the ocean water. They range from garbage- and dead fish-infested water to "super bacteria."

Rio poolsScreegrabber - deadspin.com

Why the pool has transformed into questionable green color likely has to do with an algae problem, according to the website Water Safety Magazine.

But the murky water could also indicate "the presence of copper ions in the water. This can be the result of a bad pH balance in the water and requires the addition of a sequestering or chelating agent to remove the ions," BuzzFeed reports. Still, an official cause for the discoloration of the water has yet to be determined.

As Deadspin points out, algae is nothing to sound the alarms about, but the conditions that allow it to thrive, namely inadequate chlorine levels, should cause concern, especially since antibiotics-resistant bacteria were found at the swimming and canoeing/rowing venues.

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