Rio Green Pool

Rio 2016: Green Olympic diving pool is a cause for worry, experts say.

16:53 16 August 2016

The green diving pool at the Olympics might not be safe, says Ralph Riley, vice-chairman of the Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (Pwtag).

 

Olympic officials, who have previously assured athletes that there’s nothing to worry about, said that they don’t know what caused the water to go green.

 

Riley said: “The water is not supposed to be green,” 

 

“It’s great that they’re saying there’s no safety threat to the divers,” said Mr Riley. “But I’m not sure what that means.”

 

He added that Olympic officials probably meant that there’s no immediate safety threat to the divers but the colour could be a symptom of something else equally worrying.

 

“If it has gone green and it’s due to a lack of disinfectant, then that means there is some sort of implied threat or risk.

 

“If they’re saying that’s not the case, then it does point towards algae,” said Mr Riley. But if there’s algae “then that implies there’s been a breakdown in the disinfectant process anyway”, meaning that the pool could be unclean and not properly treated, he said.

 

Howard Gosling, an independent pool and spa adviser and former chairman of Pwtag, said that he too would not swim in the pool.

 

"If there's not enough chlorine in the water, you don't know what bugs will be growing in there," he said.

 

"I would certainly – even though the divers don't stay in there very long – I certainly would be reluctant to go into it."