Rio de Janeiro鈥檚 new state environmental secretary, Andre Correa, on Wednesday that city officials will not uphold their pledge to clean the highly polluted waters in which athletes will be sailing and windsurfing in time for the Olympics.
The city鈥檚 Olympic bid, as well as the hopes of local environmental activists, hinged on the promise to reduce pollution in Guanabara Bay by 80 percent. With the games approaching, city officials have admitted that this will not be possible.
鈥淩emoving 80 percent of the pollutants? It鈥檚 not going to happen,鈥 Correa, who took office earlier this year, told the Guardian. He added that it would cost billions of dollars to handle the task, and that the resources simply don鈥檛 exist.
Guanabara Bay, where Olympic sailing is set to take place, is notoriously polluted with raw sewage, industrial debris, and things like old couches and animal carcasses, . Competing there has been an ongoing issue for nearly a year and a point of contention among athletes who fear superbacteria.
Rio 2016 organizing committee spokesperson Mario Andrade said the claim to reduce pollution by 80 percent meant increasing filtration and sewage treatment, not reducing preexisting pollution. Since 2007, when Rio launched its bid, sewage treatment has increased from 11 percent to 50 percent, Andrade said.
鈥淎s far as the Guanabara Bay is concerned, what I wanted to say here today is that everything鈥檚 on track, everything鈥檚 progressing,鈥 Andrade told SF Gate. 鈥淭here is no plan B. 鈥 There will not be any televisions floating in the sailing events.鈥
Correa said that a pair of eco-barriers planned to be built in river mouths would ultimately filter out 80 percent to 85 percent of pollution entering the bay, SF Gate reports.