Jorge Briard, president of Rio de Janeiro's water utility, announced Wednesday that it will be impossible to meet the city's pledge to clear 80 percent of sewage and waste from the Guanabara Bay before the Olympic events begin there next year. Briard said that the goals for the water cleanup set in 2009 when Rio won its Olympic bid have not been met with the speed imagined six years ago.
Despite acknowledging these issues, Briard said that Rio is making progress in the sewage collection process and that the water treatment of the bay will be much better by next August, according to Sports Illustrated.
But is that good enough? Jeremy Schaap, eight-time Emmy award winner for his work on ESPN, discussed how Olympic athletes face a 99 percent chance of getting sick from competing in water events. "The water is filled with human fecal matter. It contains everything from ringworm to hepatitis," he said.
Schaap explained that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has no way to force Rio to make any changes, and that the IOC awards these cities with promises made, which are impossible to enforce, ESPN reported.
Just this week, Wonwoo Cho, a Korean wind surfer, became the fourth athlete to become sick, while performing Olympic test trials in the bay, as previously reported by HNGN.
An independent five-month analysis showed dangerously high levels of viruses from human sewage at all Rio Olympic water venues. Despite the findings, brown sewage continues to flow into the Marina da Gloria at several points, according to the Toronto Sun.
