Water Switch to Solve Maria Lenk Algae Trouble

(ATR) More than 3.7 million liters (977,437 gallons) of water from the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre’s competition pools will be exchanged with the warm up pool to solve the algae problem.

Water polo athletes had complained of itchy eyes after the pools turned from light blue to green.

Gustavo Nascimento, Rio 2016’s director of venue management, explained at a Saturday media briefing that the water would be drained overnight, in advance of the first synchronized swimming session at 11 a.m. Sunday.

"The water in the warm-up pool is in perfect condition," Nascimento said. "It has the aesthetics, visibility and the transparency for the athletes to perform at their best. We hope to have this issue resolved by seven in the morning tomorrow."

Nascimento explained that sand in filters was changed on Friday night in an eight-hour operation and the water has slowly improved, but not fast enough.

Nascimento said the problem started on opening day, Aug. 5, when 80 liters (21.13 gallons) of hydrogen peroxide was put in the water, neutralizing the ability of chlorine to kill organics. But an electronic monitoring system failed.

"What happened was that the electronics system found that the chlorine amount was OK in the water," he said. "The problem was that the chlorine in the water was somewhat neutralised. It was asleep and not killing organics."

With 120 athletes competing in the diving tank and the extended period of water polo athletes, the algae grew.

Rio 2016 spokesman Mario Andrada admitted it was an embarrassment.

"It should be light blue, transparent, and also things could have been done better, quickly," Andrada said. "We learned painful lessons the hard way."

Written by Bob Mackinin Rio de Janeiro

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