{"id":722,"date":"2015-08-13T21:17:32","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T01:17:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=722"},"modified":"2019-06-26T16:52:11","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T20:52:11","slug":"some-thoughts-on-the-waterways-of-rio-de-janiero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sullyonsports.com\/?p=722","title":{"rendered":"Some Thoughts on the Waterways of Rio De Janiero"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Did I ever think that I would\u00a0actually<\/em> be writing about the quality of water in a South American country? \u00a0No, but that’s life, and that’s become sports, too, recently.<\/p>\n

To catch you up on recent events (if you haven’t been following), the Associated Press\u00a0published an investigation<\/a>\u00a0into the water that the athletes of the 2016 Rio Olympics will be swimming and rowing in next August. \u00a0Here’s an excerpt:<\/p>\n

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) \u2014 Athletes in next year’s Summer Olympics here will be swimming and boating in waters so contaminated with human feces that they risk becoming violently ill and unable to compete in the games, an Associated Press investigation has found.<\/p>\n

An AP analysis of water quality revealed dangerously high levels of viruses and bacteria from human sewage in Olympic and Paralympic venues \u2014 results that alarmed international experts and dismayed competitors training in Rio, some of whom have already fallen ill with fevers, vomiting and diarrhea.<\/p>\n

It is the first independent comprehensive testing for both viruses and bacteria at the Olympic sites.<\/p>\n

Brazilian officials have assured that the water will be safe for the Olympic athletes and the medical director of the International Olympic Committee said all was on track for providing safe competing venues. But neither the government nor the IOC tests for viruses, relying on bacteria testing only.<\/p>\n

Extreme water pollution is common in Brazil, where the majority of sewage is not treated. Raw waste runs through open-air ditches to streams and rivers that feed the Olympic water sites.<\/p>\n

As a result, Olympic athletes are almost certain to come into contact with disease-causing viruses that in some tests measured up to 1.7 million times the level of what would be considered hazardous on a Southern California beach.<\/p>\n

Despite decades of official pledges to clean up the mess, the stench of raw sewage still greets travelers touching down at Rio’s international airport. Prime beaches are deserted because the surf is thick with putrid sludge, and periodic die-offs leave the Olympic lake, Rodrigo de Freitas, littered with rotting fish.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s disgusting. \u00a0FIFA and Sepp Blatter look at that and say, “that’s despicable”. \u00a0But this is no laughing matter. \u00a0And lest you think it won’t get worse, it does. \u00a0Back to the report:<\/p>\n

The AP also measured fecal coliform bacteria, single-celled organisms that live in the intestines of humans and animals. Fecal coliforms can suggest the presence of cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid.<\/p>\n

In 75 percent of the samples taken at the Olympic lake, the number of fecal coliforms exceeded Brazil’s legal limit for “secondary contact,” such as boating or rowing \u2014 in two samples spiking to over 10 times the accepted level. The Marina da Gloria venue exceeded the limit only once, while at Rio’s most popular tourist beach, Ipanema, fecal coliforms tested at three times the acceptable level in a single sample. At Copacabana, the AP tests found no violations of fecal coliform counts.<\/p>\n

Fecal coliforms have long been used by most governments as a marker to determine whether bodies of water are polluted because they are relatively easy and cheap to test and find. Brazil uses only bacterial testing when determining water quality.<\/p>\n

In Rio, the fecal coliform levels were not as astronomical as the viral numbers the AP found. That gap is at the heart of a global debate among water experts, many of whom are pushing governments to adopt viral as well as bacterial testing to determine if recreational waters are safe.<\/p>\n

That’s because fecal coliform bacteria from sewage can survive only a short time in water, especially in the salty and sunny conditions around Rio. Human adenoviruses have been shown to last several months, with some studies even indicating they can last years.<\/p>\n

That means that even if Rio magically collected and treated all its sewage tomorrow, its waters would stay polluted for a long time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The diseases mentioned (cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and hepatitis A) are all bad, so bad that they all have\u00a0death rates<\/em>. \u00a0While these death rates are minimal, they increase dramatically when untreated. \u00a0A swimmer\/rower coming down with this disease and not treating it is very plausible, the athletes may not be aware of the symptoms. \u00a0These athletes may also want to push through that pain, especially because of the absurd amount of training that goes into the Olympics.\u00a0 Nonetheless, the risk of death exists for two\u00a0reasons: the IOC and the Rio government.<\/p>\n

The IOC stands for International Olympic Committee, and it essentially runs the Olympic games. \u00a0Most importantly, it’s a\u00a0corrupt organization<\/a>\u00a0that has fallen under a multitude of controversies\u00a0just in the last ten years<\/a>. \u00a0So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when this was announced<\/a> just yesterday:<\/p>\n

RIO DE JANEIRO — <\/strong>The International Olympic Committee ruled out conducting viral tests of Rio de Janeiro’s sewage-laden waterways ahead of the 2016 games, a top official said Wednesday, despite an Associated Press study showing dangerously high levels of disease-causing viruses at all aquatic venues<\/a>, with experts saying athletes are almost certain to be exposed to pathogens.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a news conference dominated by questions about Rio’s sewage pollution problem<\/a>, Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi said the IOC will be sticking to World Health Organization guidelines recommending only bacterial testing.<\/p>\n

The AP’s independent analysis of water quality showed high levels of viruses and, in some cases, bacteria<\/a> from human sewage in all of Rio’s Olympic and Paralympic water venues, including the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, where rowing will take place, the Guanabara Bay, where the sailing competition are to be held, and at Copacabana Beach where distance swimming events will take place.<\/p>\n

In two separate emailed statements following the AP’s July 30 publication about its study, the\u00a0World Health Organization<\/a> said it was advising the International Olympic Committee “to widen the scientific base of indicators to include viruses.”<\/p>\n

However, in an emailed statement Monday, the organization backpedaled and said that “WHO has not and will not issue an ‘official recommendation’ on viral testing.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, the IOC’s reaction to human sewage, bacteria, and disease-causing viruses is, basically, “Yeah, whatever.” \u00a0You may have heard stories like the one that came out of Rio last week,\u00a0in which\u00a0thirteen of the forty rowers on the United States Rowing Team fell ill with stomach problems<\/a>. \u00a0The team doctor believes that the sicknesses are due to impurity in the Rio waters that the team was training in, and she’s probably right.<\/p>\n

But the IOC, in another episode of being the IOC, not only deemed the waters safe but also denied the doctor’s claims. \u00a0Nawal El Moutawakel, the leader of the inspection team in charge of checking the waterways that will be used in the Olympics, said this:<\/p>\n

The IOC puts on the highest priority the athletes and our friends around this table are doing their upmost so that this issue of water quality is being heavily dealt with so the athletes can compete in secure and safe environments.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah, sure you do. \u00a0I’ll take hypocrisy for $1,000, Alex.<\/p>\n

Answer? \u00a0Daily Double. \u00a0Daily Double because she said that the athletes and the playing conditions are the two highest priorities, both taking precedent over special interests. \u00a0This is a double dose of BS from a company full of it. \u00a0Is there more? \u00a0Of course there’s more!<\/p>\n

The city of Rio De Janeiro was awarded these Olympics in 2009, giving them\u00a0seven years<\/em> to prepare, and preparing for the games includes cleaning up the water. \u00a0Per the International Business Times, the Rio government\u00a0didn’t exactly do that<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Rio\u2019s Olympic officials vowed in 2009 to address 80 percent of the area\u2019s water pollution before the 2016 games began. Earlier this year, city government officials said funding for cleanup efforts would be drawn from an $8.8 billion budget devoted to \u201clegacy projects,\u201d such as water pollution and transportation infrastructure, USA Today reported.\u00a0But Andre Correa, Rio\u2019s environment secetary, acknowledged an 80 percent cleanup was \u201cnot going to happen\u201d and said it would cost about $3.8 billion to establish a sewer system capable of fully addressing Rio\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

A monthslong Associated Press investigation found in July that all of Rio\u2019s Olympic waterways were brimming with bacteria and viruses from human waste. In one case, the level of water pollution was more than one million times worse than an acceptable standard on a California beach, the AP<\/a> reported.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh yeah. \u00a0The fun starts with the money being taken out of the “legacy projects”, which were supposedly being used to help the city’s infrastructure and pollution. \u00a0However, the goal of an 80 percent cleanup was obviously never going to happen, so why did the government promise to get it done? \u00a0It’s obvious that the city did not want to let the IOC down, but an 80 percent cleanup was still unrealistic.<\/p>\n

And even this is on the IOC, too. \u00a0With the knowledge that the water was contaminated and even a total cleanup would still leave a good deal of the pollutants in the water, why did Rio get the games? \u00a0With swimming and rowing events occurring in these waters, how did the country with the most polluted water get the right to host them in the largest worldwide competition there is?<\/p>\n

As you can imagine, these pieces of news, along with the handling of the situation by the IOC and the Rio government, have drawn complete outrage from many. \u00a0The loudest critic of the IOC recently has probably been ESPN’s Mike Greenberg, and he said this today on his radio show,\u00a0Mike & Mike<\/em>:<\/p>\n