This Friday marks the opening ceremony for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, but what the athletes and onlookers may not know is just how risky and filthy the city’s surrounding water has become.
Advertisement
Not only does the water contain raw human sewage and harmful bacteria, it’s harbouring viral levels so far beyond what’s considered unsafe in the U.S., one expert called them “unheard of”. “Levels of these organisms are so high, that every athlete interacting with the water will be exposed”, Mena told Gizmodo.
Not only are some 1,400 athletes at risk of getting violently ill in water competitions, but the AP’s tests indicate that tourists also face potentially serious health risks on the golden beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana.
“Don’t put your head under water”, was the one piece of advice Harwood had for athletes who were planning on competing. The Rio bid also said it would deliver a “full regeneration” of Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, site of the rowing, sprint canoe and kayaking events.
But a Rio 2016 statement said: “Rio 2016 confirms that the fields of play for all water sport competitions meet all the relevant standards set by the World Health Organisation and ensure a safe and fair competition”. Brazil planned to have the waters ready before the event but that never happened.
While causes of death can vary, they all originate in the degradation and human exploration of the bay says Haydee Cunha, a biology professor at Rio’s state university who studies the genetics of the Guiana dolphins at the Maqua Institute.
Zika’s not the only health concern for athletes heading to Rio, now they need to worry about the water, which is heavily contaminated with raw human sewage. “Large-scale sanitation facilities are expensive and don’t always work, especially when developing it for a city as large as Rio that is generating so much”. The AP investigation found infectious adenovirus readings at almost 90 percent of the test sites over the 16 months.
Advertisement
That put its viral levels at 1.7 million times what would be considered hazardous in the USA and United Kingdom, and the researchers suggested that accidentally ingesting just 3 teaspoons of the stuff would “almost certainly” infect someone with a virus. The first sampling there, in March 2015, showed over 26 million adenoviruses per liter; this June, over 37 million adenoviruses per liter were detected. We live in a country that has an economic crisis, a country with lots inequality.
