The delays have been so bad, it even sparked a discussion about whether the games should be hosted in London instead.
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“By both European and American standards, the quality of the water is appropriate for the events”, the secretariat said in a statement.
The AP teamed up with a noted Brazilian virologist to test water at three sites where Olympic and Paralympic athletes will compete, and also at one of Rio’s most popular tourist beaches.
Brazilians officials maintain the water will be safe for the Olympic athletes, but the government does not yet test for viruses.
In this July 9, 2015 photo, doctoral candidate Rodrigo Staggemeier works to analyze samples collected from the waters of Rio de Janeiro, at the Feevale University in Novo Hamburgo, Brazil.
“On the one hand we see great progress, on the other there is no time to lose”, IOC President Thomas Bach told reporters this week. Serious doubts are the order of the day. Because most sewage is not treated in Brazil, unsafe waste freely makes its way to bodies of water where Olympians will swim and boat. Yet AP tests found its waters to be among the most polluted for Olympic sites.
– Two points at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lake, near the start and finish lines of the rowing and canoeing competitions.
The state of the waters has drawn steep criticism from athletes and programs heading for action in Rio 2016.
“What we have here is basically pure sewage”, marine biologist John Griffith of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project said to G1.
The results was determined on four games of experience due to AP with the locations for yachting and running and also for the bathing part of the triathalon, along with at Rio’s renowned Ipanema Beach.
‘It’s all the water from the toilets and the showers and whatever people put down their sinks, all mixed up, and it’s going out into the beach waters.
In the U.S., Griffith said, areas with such levels of contamination “would be shut down immediately”.
Those in charge of monitoring Rio’s water quality for the 2016 Games said officials are not testing for virus levels.
The other Olympic water venues are under the control of the Rio state environmental agency.
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Brazilian officials are strictly adhering to bacteria level-based water quality regulations followed by nearly all countries. Because the presence or absence of viruses in the water [is not relevant]… we need a standard, a limit. ‘You don’t have a standard for the quantity of virus in relation to human health when it comes to contact with water.’. The tests measured levels of human adenovirus, rotavirus and enterovirus as well as fecal-coliform bacteria. Not a single venue was found to be safe for swimming or boating, according to the AP’s viral tests.
