RIO DE JANEIRO — The problem of the suddenly green water in the Olympic diving pool worsened Wednesday as whatever was ailing¹ the pool migrated (albeit in a lighter² shade of green) to the nearby pool used for water polo and synchronized³ swimming. But Olympic officials said that after extensive tests, they had finally pinpointed⁴ the reason: a chemical imbalance caused by too many people using the water.

里约热内卢——周三，奥运会跳水池的池水突然变绿的问题愈演愈烈，不管是什么导致池水的不正常，它都已经让用于水球和花样游泳比赛的泳池也出现了同样的症状（尽管绿色稍微淡一些）。但奥林匹克官员称，经过大量测试，他们最终找出了具体原因：使用泳池的人太多，致使水体出现化学物质失衡。

There had been speculation⁵ Tuesday that algae⁶ was the cause, but that theory was dismissed by officials.

周二曾有人猜测，罪魁祸首是水藻。但该说法遭到了官员的否认。

“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.

“午后，跳水池内的碱度突然下降，这是池水变色的主要原因，”里约奥运组委会发言人马里奥•安德拉达(Mario Andrada)周三早上表示。

He noted⁷ that a lot of people had been in the pools in the past week, for practices and competitions at the Maria Lenk Aquatic⁸ Center, and that their presence had touched off changes in the water’s chemical balance.

他指出，上周在玛莉亚•林柯水上运动中心(Maria Lenk Aquatics⁹ Center)训练和比赛的很多运动员进过这个泳池，他们的到来改变了池水的化学平衡状态。

“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 apparently¹⁰ exacerbated¹¹ by Wednesday morning’s rain.

“我们恐怕没有注意到，随着下水的运动员越来越多，水体可能会受到影响，”安德拉达说。他还表示，水体没有受到应有的严密监控；此外，问题似乎因为周三早上的降雨而变得更加严重了。

“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.”

“负责管理该泳池的人本应该更为频繁地检测水质，”他说。“我们找来了一个由独立专家组成的小组进行核查。”

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.”

安德拉达说这不会让运动员面临健康风险，而且“池水在日内即可恢复其经典的蓝色”。

The alarmingly swift transformation¹² of the diving pool from aqua to swamp green on Tuesday spurred the usual social media hilarity¹³, 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.

跳水池的水体于周二令人震惊地从蓝绿色迅速变成沼泽绿，一如既往地引发了社交媒体上的狂欢，很多人猜测的可能原因是，运动员们在里面进行了一种常见于泳池的、令人厌恶的生命活动。

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

泳池维护公司VivoAquatics的水上解决方案负责人内特•埃尔南德斯(Nate Hernandez)说，这并非真正的原因。该公司总部设在加利福尼亚，客户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.

“说实话，在泳池里小便的人有的是——这不会有影响，”他在邮件中表示。

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

泳池专家称，要是泳池得到很好的维护，池水不会如此剧烈地迅速变色。

“If the pool’s systems are properly sized with adequate filtration and using appropriate chemical distribution, they should be able to maintain clarity and sanitation¹⁴ 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.

“如果该泳池恰当地配有足够的过滤装置，并采用合适的化学品分布，即便是在高峰使用时段，也应该可以保证水体的清澈和卫生，”康涅狄格州游泳池和水疗中心用化学品生厂商NC Brands的品牌经理杰米•诺瓦克(Jamie Novak)在邮件中表示。

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 weird¹⁵ sort of mistake.

诺瓦克说，在举办奥运会这样必然引来大量游泳者的活动之际，没有预见到使用量的增加，似乎是一种诡异的错误。

“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.”

“以拉斯维加斯的硬石(Hard Rock)那样的泳池为例，”他说。“在夏季的一个周日，我们一次会让5000人同时下水。最高记录是8200人，但池水从未变绿。”

The Rio Games have had their share of water-related troubles, particularly at the rowing and sailing venues¹⁶, where the water is contaminated by a toxic¹⁷ stew¹⁸ of bacteria and pathogens.

里约奥运会面临许多跟水有关的问题，尤其是在帆船和赛艇比赛场地，其水体被严重污染，里面充满各种有害的细菌和病原体。

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.

在周三下午前去现场，你会看到跳水池依然呈深绿色，用于水球和花样游泳比赛的水池则呈浅绿色，更接近海玻璃绿。官员称，池水的碱度已经在上升。