In what is the first independent, comprehensive testing done on viruses and bacteria at the Rio Olympics site, the AP found that athletes will be swimming and boating in a literal cesspool contaminated with human feces and occasionally, dead and putrefying fish.
The findings show that the waters are so contaminated that athletes face the risk of becoming violently ill and unable to compete, says the AP. Four rounds of testing were done, beginning in March this year. The results of the tests have alarmed International experts and created dismay among competitors in training in Rio, including many who have already fallen ill with fevers, vomiting, and diarrhea.
The testing revealed dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria from human sewage, in both the Olympic and Paralympic venues. NBC News reports that in some tests the contamination was up to 1.7 million times what would be considered hazardous on a California beach, based on the AP analysis,
Believe it or not, Brazillian officials are still saying the water will be safe for Olympic athletes when the time comes, and the medical director of the International Olympic Committee says all is on track for having safe Olympic venues. But interestingly, neither the government or the IOC test for viruses, relying on bacterial testing alone.
“This is by far the worst water quality we’ve ever seen in our sailing careers,” said Ivan Bulaja, a coach for the Austrian team. The sailing team has spent months training on the Guanabara Bay. “I am quite sure if you swim in this water and it goes into your mouth or nose that quite a lot of bad things are coming inside your body.”
The New York Times reports that David Hussl, a sailor on the team is sick. “I’ve had high temperatures and problems with my stomach,” he said. “It’s always one day completely in bed and then usually not sailing for two or three days.”
Rio’s untreated sewage is an ongoing problem
In March of this year, Digital Journal reported on the ongoing problem with untreated sewage plaguing Rio de Janeiro and the 15 cities that share the shoreline of Guanabuara Bay, where the Olympic distance swimming, sailing, and rowing events will take place.
Digital Journal reported that in 2014, the AP had received a letter sent to then-Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo, where Rio’s state’s former environmental secretary admitted that even the best attempts at reducing pollution in the bay wouldn’t come close to “over 50 percent” — not even close to the promised reduction of 80 percent.
And it all boils down to the sad fact that Rio’s Olympic water venues are going to be a health hazard, without a doubt. What would visiting athletes think, when on deplaning at Rio’s international airport, the first thing to greet them is the stench of feces, so overpowering that some people say it is enough to make you sick to your stomach?
Prime beaches are deserted, taken over by a thick, putrid, black sludge. “What you have there is basically raw sewage,” said John Griffith, a marine biologist at the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. He examined the AP’s test results.
“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. Those kinds of things would be shut down immediately if found here,” he said, referring to the U.S.
In the water testing commissioned by the AP, four rounds of testing at three Olympic venues were tested. The samples were tested for three types of human adenovirus, as well as rotavirus, enterovirus and fecal coliforms. The testing will continue through the coming year, says the AP, but not a single venue was considered safe by global water experts.