里約的游泳池爲什麼會變綠

RIO DE JANEIRO — The problem of the suddenly green water in the Olympic diving pool worsened Wednesday as whatever was ailing the pool migrated (albeit in a lighter shade of green) to the nearby pool used for water polo and synchronized swimming. But Olympic officials said that after extensive tests, they had finally pinpointed the reason: a chemical imbalance caused by too many people using the water.

里約熱內盧——週三，奧運會跳水池的池水突然變綠的問題愈演愈烈，不管是什麼導致池水的不正常，它都已經讓用於水球和花樣游泳比賽的泳池也出現了同樣的症狀（儘管綠色稍微淡一些）。但奧林匹克官員稱，經過大量測試，他們最終找出了具體原因：使用泳池的人太多，致使水體出現化學物質失衡。

There had been speculation Tuesday that algae was the cause, but that theory was dismissed by officials.

週二曾有人猜測，罪魁禍首是水藻。但該說法遭到了官員的否認。

“Midafternoon, there was a sudden decrease in the alkalinity in the diving pool, and that’s the main reason the color changed,” Mario Andrada, a Rio 2016 spokesman, said Wednesday morning.

“午後，跳水池內的鹼度突然下降，這是池水變色的主要原因，”里約奧運組委會發言人馬里奧•安德拉達(Mario Andrada)週三早上表示。

He noted that a lot of people had been in the pools in the past week, for practices and competitions at the Maria Lenk Aquatic Center, and that their presence had touched off changes in the water’s chemical balance.

他指出，上週在瑪莉亞•林柯水上運動中心(Maria Lenk Aquatics Center)訓練和比賽的很多運動員進過這個泳池，他們的到來改變了池水的化學平衡狀態。

“We probably failed to note that with more athletes, the water could be affected,” Andrada said. He said, too, that the water had not been monitored as carefully as it should have been and that the trouble was apparently exacerbated by Wednesday morning’s rain.

“我們恐怕沒有注意到，隨着下水的運動員越來越多，水體可能會受到影響，”安德拉達說。他還表示，水體沒有受到應有的嚴密監控；此外，問題似乎因爲週三早上的降雨而變得更加嚴重了。

“The people in charge of the pool should have done more intensive tests,” he said. “We brought in a team of independent experts to check.”

“負責管理該泳池的人本應該更爲頻繁地檢測水質，”他說。“我們找來了一個由獨立專家組成的小組進行覈查。”

Andrada said that there was no health risk to the athletes and that “the pool should go back to its classic blue colors during the day.”

安德拉達說這不會讓運動員面臨健康風險，而且“池水在日內即可恢復其經典的藍色”。

The alarmingly swift transformation of the diving pool from aqua to swamp green on Tuesday spurred the usual social media hilarity, with much of the speculation focusing on the possibility of athletes’ using the pool for a bodily function that is generally frowned upon at pools.

跳水池的水體於週二令人震驚地從藍綠色迅速變成沼澤綠，一如既往地引發了社交媒體上的狂歡，很多人猜測的可能原因是，運動員們在裏面進行了一種常見於泳池的、令人厭惡的生命活動。

Nope, said Nate Hernandez, director of aquatic solutions at VivoAquatics, a pool care company based in California whose clients include hotels and resorts.

泳池維護公司VivoAquatics的水上解決方案負責人內特•埃爾南德斯(Nate Hernandez)說，這並非真正的原因。該公司總部設在加利福尼亞，客戶包括酒店和度假中心。

“To be honest, people pee in the pool all the time — this wouldn’t affect it,” he said via email.

“說實話，在泳池裏小便的人有的是——這不會有影響，”他在郵件中表示。

Pool experts said that with decent pool maintenance, water in a pool should not change color so drastically and quickly.

泳池專家稱，要是泳池得到很好的維護，池水不會如此劇烈地迅速變色。

“If the pool’s systems are properly sized with adequate filtration and using appropriate chemical distribution, they should be able to maintain clarity and sanitation even during peak use,” Jamie Novak, a brand manager at NC Brands, a swimming pool and spa chemical manufacturer based in Connecticut, said in an email.

“如果該泳池恰當地配有足夠的過濾裝置，並採用合適的化學品分佈，即便是在高峯使用時段，也應該可以保證水體的清澈和衛生，”康涅狄格州游泳池和水療中心用化學品生廠商NC Brands的品牌經理傑米•諾瓦克(Jamie Novak)在郵件中表示。

Hernandez said that failing to anticipate and plan for a large number of swimmers at an event like the Olympics, which by definition attracts a large number of swimmers, seemed a weird sort of mistake.

諾瓦克說，在舉辦奧運會這樣必然引來大量游泳者的活動之際，沒有預見到使用量的增加，似乎是一種詭異的錯誤。

“Take a pool like the Hard Rock in Las Vegas,” he said. “On a Sunday in the summertime, we’ll put 5,000 people in that water at one time. The most we’ve ever had is about 8,200, and it has never turned green.”

“以拉斯維加斯的硬石(Hard Rock)那樣的泳池爲例，”他說。“在夏季的一個週日，我們一次會讓5000人同時下水。最高記錄是8200人，但池水從未變綠。”

The Rio Games have had their share of water-related troubles, particularly at the rowing and sailing venues, where the water is contaminated by a toxic stew of bacteria and pathogens.

里約奧運會面臨許多跟水有關的問題，尤其是在帆船和賽艇比賽場地，其水體被嚴重污染，裏面充滿各種有害的細菌和病原體。

A visit Wednesday afternoon showed that the diving pool was still a fairly dark shade of green while the pool for water polo and synchronized swimming was somewhat lighter, more of a sea glass green. Officials said the alkalinity levels were already improving.

在週三下午前去現場，你會看到跳水池依然呈深綠色，用於水球和花樣游泳比賽的水池則呈淺綠色，更接近海玻璃綠。官員稱，池水的鹼度已經在上升。