When the diving pool turned green, Andrara was quizzed for days. Credit:Joe Armao Their explanation was about as clear as the green soup in the pool outside, but in essence it was explained as a simple bungle that will bemuse those who own a backyard pool – they used the wrong chemicals. It was revealed that 80 litres of hydrogen-peroxide were put in the pool on the day of the opening ceremony on August 5 – a chemical that should never be combined with chlorine, as any pool owner knows. As a consequence, the electronic system that controls the amount of the chlorine in the water was "confused". In the past week, several water players have complained about how much their eyes have stung during matches.

Divers were forced to dive into a green pool. Credit:Michael Chammas Fairfax Media understands it was so bad one Australian men's player needed to have his eyes flushed out at halftime in the 10-8 loss to Serbia, although Australia's women's players said it was less of an issue in their 10-3 win over Brazil in their final pool match the next day. The water polo competition transfers to the Aquatic Centre when the swimming program is complete, something that was always scheduled. Australia meets Greece in their final pool match there on Monday morning AEST. But frantic organisers were forced into changing the water in one pool – a process that takes 10 hours – because synchronised swimmers and judges need a clear pool for competition. The water in the diving pool will not be replaced, Nascimento said, with some competitors privately saying it helps them compete.

"We investigated and on Friday 80 litres of hydrogen-peroxide were put in the water and this creates a reaction to the chlorine and this neutralises the chlorine's ability to neutralise organics," Nascimento said. "This is not a problem for the health of anyone but we have an electronic system that measures the amount of chlorine in the water and it kills the organics. "The reason why [this happened], we haven't solved it. Our contractor's failure is our failure. It is something that should not have been done." Pressed on whether algae had formed in the pool, creating the green hue in one pool and then the other, Nascimento said: "We do not know the reason why it went green. According to the chemical analysis we did three times, we could not tell if organic material was already there or what is causing that. There has been no health problem at all. We've been guided by health experts from FINA and Rio 2016 all the way through. Health is never an issue in this incident." Andrada did not want the finger of blame to be pointed at the contractor responsible. "We will have the same approach as we've had with all the previous issues at the Olympic Games," he said. "Now is the time to fix the problem. We do not discuss who was to blame, who made a mistake, who will pay, which contract will be suspended. We focus on providing the athlete with the best place to perform."

Loading Andrada was also forced to defend himself amid claims he had not taken the issue seriously after he had compared the colour of the water to that of the Brazilian national flag. He has tried to allay concerns for the past week, constantly reminding the media the water is safe and not an issue. "The quote that the colour resembled the Brazilian flag was said by the Brazilian players from water polo," he said. "They produced an unforgettable win over Serbia, one of the most powerful water polo teams ever, so they were so happy and excited to beat them, they said to keep the water the same. My quote was not an isolated quote. We did take this problem serious from day one. We promised twice that it would be fixed and it wasn't delivered. That was my fault."