mathbabe

There’s been a lot of complaints about the Olympic pools turning green and dirty in Rio. People seem worried that the swimmers’ health may be at risk and so on.

Pic from Rio

Well, here’s what I learned last month when my family rented a summer house with a pool. Pools that look clean are not clean. They would be better described as, “so toxic that algae cannot live in it.”

I know what I’m talking about. One weekend my band visiting the house, and the pool guy had been missing for 2 weeks straight. This is what my pool looks like:

Album cover, obviously.

Then we added an enormous vat of chemicals, specifically liquid chlorine, and about 24 hours later this is what happened:

It wasn’t easy to recreate this. I had to throw the shark’s tail at Jamie like 5 times because it kept floating away. Also, back of the album, obviously.

Now you might notice that it’s not green anymore, but it’s also not clear. To get to clear, blue water, you need to add yet another tub of some other chemical.

Long story short: don’t be deceived by “clean” pool water. There’s nothing clean about it.

Update: I’m not saying “chemicals are bad,” and please don’t compare me to the – ugh – Food Babe! I’m just saying “clean water” isn’t an appropriate description. It’s not as if it’s pure water, and we pour tons of stuff in to get it to look like that. So yes, algae and germs can be harmful! And yes, chlorine in moderate amounts is not bad for you!