Water Issues in Rio de Janeiro during summer 2016 Olympics The summer Olympics happening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016, have caused many concerns for the athletes that will be competing in the water events in Guanabara Bay. When Brazil first got the bid to host the Olympics, one of the prerequisites was that the local water supply would be cleaned up and brought up to the minimum standards for safe drinking, cooking, bathing, dog-washing and swimming water that every civilized country has to abide by. According to the Brazilian Government and Rio de Janeiro’s mayor says it is almost impossible for the water quality to be improved significantly in time for the Olympics coming this summer but that the water will not be an issue in conducting the sporting events required to host the Olympics [1]. Guanabara Bay contains 84% of the city’s untreated sewage [2]. Tests done by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) showed that the hazardous waste in Guanabara Bay is 1.7 million times more hazardous than what is considered hazardous in California [3]. The International Olympic Committee will use the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines to determine if the Guanabara Bay will be safe enough to host the water events or if a new venue will have to be used [3]. In order to fix this problem in time for the Olympics, the water quality standards set by the World Health Organization need to be enforced and more funding from the government is needed. The Associated Press (AP) have done some water quality tests in Guanabara Bay, Ipanema Beach, and Copacabana Beach Surf, which is the location for the triathlon and marathon and some swim events. The results from these tests show that these areas are consistently virus-laden throughout and there is a spike in bacterial fecal coliforms. The amount of bacterial fecal coliforms is 16 times the amount permitted by the Brazilian government. As a result, all of the water venues for the Olympics are not fit for the athletes to compete in. Mena, who is a waterborne virus expert says that “athletes who ingest three tablespoons of the contaminated water have a 99 percent chance of being infected with viruses [1].” If any of the beaches in the United State or in Europe were contaminated to the same level that Rio de Janeiro’s beaches are contaminated, they would be shut down [1]. The water issues in Rio de Janeiro go much further than the water the athletes have to compete in. The water issues affect the fans and visitors as well because of the showering water, the water food will be cooked in, drinking water, any vegetation that gets watered, or any other ways that a bystander can be in contact with the polluted water. The polluted water is hard for the city of Rio de Janeiro to fix because Rio de Janeiro is one of the most corrupt localities in the world. The city of Rio de Janeiro has a vast population of very poor underclassman and also a very small population of very wealthy upperclassmen. The.

1. Water Issues in Rio de Janeiro during summer 2016 Olympics
The summer Olympics happening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in
2016, have caused many concerns for the athletes that will be
competing in the water events in Guanabara Bay. When Brazil
first got the bid to host the Olympics, one of the prerequisites
was that the local water supply would be cleaned up and
brought up to the minimum standards for safe drinking,
cooking, bathing, dog-washing and swimming water that every
civilized country has to abide by. According to the Brazilian
Government and Rio de Janeiro’s mayor says it is almost
impossible for the water quality to be improved significantly in
time for the Olympics coming this summer but that the water
will not be an issue in conducting the sporting events required
to host the Olympics [1].
Guanabara Bay contains 84% of the city’s untreated sewage [2].
Tests done by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
showed that the hazardous waste in Guanabara Bay is 1.7
million times more hazardous than what is considered hazardous
in California [3]. The International Olympic Committee will
use the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines to
determine if the Guanabara Bay will be safe enough to host the
water events or if a new venue will have to be used [3]. In
order to fix this problem in time for the Olympics, the water
quality standards set by the World Health Organization need to
be enforced and more funding from the government is needed.
The Associated Press (AP) have done some water quality tests
in Guanabara Bay, Ipanema Beach, and Copacabana Beach Surf,
which is the location for the triathlon and marathon and some
swim events. The results from these tests show that these areas
are consistently virus-laden throughout and there is a spike in
bacterial fecal coliforms. The amount of bacterial fecal
coliforms is 16 times the amount permitted by the Brazilian
government. As a result, all of the water venues for the
Olympics are not fit for the athletes to compete in. Mena, who

2. is a waterborne virus expert says that “athletes who ingest three
tablespoons of the contaminated water have a 99 percent chance
of being infected with viruses [1].” If any of the beaches in the
United State or in Europe were contaminated to the same level
that Rio de Janeiro’s beaches are contaminated, they would be
shut down [1].
The water issues in Rio de Janeiro go much further than the
water the athletes have to compete in. The water issues affect
the fans and visitors as well because of the showering water, the
water food will be cooked in, drinking water, any vegetation
that gets watered, or any other ways that a bystander can be in
contact with the polluted water.
The polluted water is hard for the city of Rio de Janeiro to fix
because Rio de Janeiro is one of the most corrupt localities in
the world. The city of Rio de Janeiro has a vast population of
very poor underclassman and also a very small population of
very wealthy upperclassmen. The wealthy class could have
chosen to step up and help with the water issue, but instead is
waiting for the Olympics to help bring in the money to fix the
problem [4].
The World Bank and the Dutch Development Bank has 20
separate proposals to deal with the water pollution surrounding
Rio de Janeiro. The proposals range from installing temporary
water treatment plants and purifying water via “constructed
wetlands.” Recycling plastics has also been proposed to help
raise money to try and fix the polluted water problem for good.
The Dutch has also created a “waste harvester” which is a
vessel that would be able to collect the waste within Guanabara
Bay. The World Bank and the Dutch Development Bank
thought that Rio de Janeiro would be a good case study to pilot
this new technology [4]. The only issue, again, is money.
Without money these proposals will never be able to be
implemented. If the cleanup in Rio de Janeiro’s water were to
happen, the clean water would not last long because the
government does not have the money to uphold the cleanup
efforts.

3. References
[1]
T. P. Fool, "Mike & Mike, Dirty Water, Rio, and What's in Your
Glass?," 13 August 2015. [Online]. Available:
http://blog.seattlepi.com/thepourfool/2015/08/13/mike-mike-
dirty-water-rio-and-whats-in-your-glass/. [Accessed 26
February 2016].
[2]
D. Phillips, "Polluted waters could force Rio de Janeiro to move
2016 olympic sailing races," 15 May 2015. [Online]. Available:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/polluted-
bay-could-force-rio-to-move-2016-olympic-sailing-
races/2015/05/15/c828bcb6-f362-11e4-bca5-
21b51bbdf93e_story.html. [Accessed 3 February 2016].
[3]
B. B. a. J. Barchfield, "AP Investigation: Olympic Teams To
Swim Boat In Rio's Filth," 30 July 2015. [Online]. Available:
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/d92f6af5121f49d982601a657d745e
95/ap-investigation-rios-olympic-water-rife-sewage-virus.
[Accessed 3 February 2016].
[4]
O. Balch, "Funding Problems Hit Plan to Clean Rio's Polluted

4. Waterways Ahead of Olympics," 1 February 2016. [Online].
Available: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-
business/2016/feb/01/funding-problems-hit-plan-clean-rios-
polluted-waterways-olympics. [Accessed 26 February 2016].
For this Hw I am looking for one to two pages that provide a
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