2016 Olympics. Rio Woefully Behind on Sewage Clean up in Essential Bay

[Warhippy]

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/2016-rio-olympics-raw-sewage-trash-will-remain-in-sailing-waters-1.2933703

Rio de Janeiro Olympic organizers said Tuesday they have "no plan B" for the 2016 games' sailing competitions, despite a recent admission by the state's top environment official that it will be impossible to meet pledges to clean up the raw sewage and trash-filled waters where the events are to be staged.

Mario Andrade, spokesman of the Rio 2016 organizing committee insisted the sailing competitions "will be held in the Guanabara Bay, under the best possible Olympic conditions."

Guanabara Bay has become a hot-button issue ahead of the 2016 games. It stinks of raw sewage and is dotted with abandoned couches, refrigerators and animal carcasses as well as, at low tide, with islands of human waste. Athletes have described the bay as an "open sewer" and raised concerns about hepatitis and other illnesses, as well as the possibility of potentially catastrophic high-speed collisions with floating detritus.

Brazil's most respected health research institute said late last year it had found a drug-resistant super-bacteria on a beach near where the sailing competitions will get underway.

Can't clean up sewage in time

While Rio officials have maintained that cleanup efforts were on track, Rio's new environment secretary, Andre Correa, acknowledged Friday there was no way to meet promises to slash by 80 per cent the amount of sewage and trash that flow into the bay daily by the time the games are held.

"Removing 80 per cent of the pollutants? It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen," Correa told reporters at a news conference on Friday. He said that a nearly $4 billion investment would be needed to ensure full basic sanitation in all the communities that surround the bay, adding that there was no timetable for such a project.

Andrade, on the other hand, insisted authorities are on target and suggested the apparently contradictory positions might be the result of semantics. Andrade said the initial promise was to boost sewage treatment in the cities that surround the bay to 80 per cent — not to reduce by 80 per cent the amount of pollution entering the waters.

"They are technical differences that in some case can appear big but are in fact subtle," he said, adding that when the Olympic bid was formulated in 2007, just 11 per cent of total sewage produced in the cities that hug the bay was treated. Now it stands at around 50 per cent, he said.

The official Olympic sustainability management plan calls for the construction of eight so-called river treatment units which would filter out "between 80 and 85 per cent of the pollution that reaches the bay." With only 18 months before the Olympics start, only two such units have been built.

"As far as the Guanabara Bay is concerned, what I wanted to say here today is that everything's on track, everything's is progressing," Andrade said. "There is no plan B... There will not be any televisions floating in the sailing events."

The 'unthinkable is happening'

Biologist Mario Moscatelli, who has been campaigning for a clean-up of the bay and other Rio waterways for decades, said he's seen "zero progress" on the ground.

"What was unthinkable is happening," said Moscatelli, who oversees projects to bring back mangrove forests along the bay and who flies over bay on a monthly basis. "Once we got the Olympics, I thought the authorities here would be shamed into action.

[Nuxfanabroad]

Not too mention the poor people of Sao Paolo are running out of water..period.

Was reading(Robert Scribbler environment site) their main reservoir, serving 10 million people is down to 5.4%. Supposedly Rio's is down to 10%. Their Amazon deforestation is largely being attributed as a major cause.

Can't believe how mass media have avoided this potential catastrophe. Utterly confounding.

[Warhippy]

Not too mention the poor people of Sao Paolo are running out of water..period.

Was reading(Robert Scribbler environment site) their main reservoir, serving 10 million people is down to 5.4%. Supposedly Rio's is down to 10%. Their Amazon deforestation is largely being attributed as a major cause.

Can't believe how mass media have avoided this potential catastrophe. Utterly confounding.

I don't want to even pretend to know the issues surrounding this country but wow, what I've read regarding the Owe-Lympics and such is beyond disgraceful in how they are treating both the people in their country and the event.

[aGENT]

Humans...

[Nuxfanabroad]

^What they call the world's 7th largest economy might come down like a house of cards.

Check out that site I mentioned, Hippy..The wealth of important info they discuss(simply, for us laymen), is as incredible as the fact that mainstream media avoids these very significant issues.

[RonMexico]

Those pics are disgusting.

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

Not too mention the poor people of Sao Paolo are running out of water..period.

Was reading(Robert Scribbler environment site) their main reservoir, serving 10 million people is down to 5.4%. Supposedly Rio's is down to 10%. Their Amazon deforestation is largely being attributed as a major cause.

Can't believe how mass media have avoided this potential catastrophe. Utterly confounding.

I don't want to even pretend to know the issues surrounding this country but wow, what I've read regarding the Owe-Lympics and such is beyond disgraceful in how they are treating both the people in their country and the event.

It's world cup all over again. I wonder what our dear Brazilian pilot thinks of this. These news articles will gain traction in 2016, when it's too late to make a difference. And again, people will ignore the problems and reject a boycott because that's somehow unfair to the people here who trained. It's such twisted logic.

[Nuxfanabroad]

^Lipstick on a BRIC.

[TOMapleLaughs]

Looks clean to me. What's the prob?

[aeromotacanucks]

IOC. 2 words...

Porto Alegre/RS

[aeromotacanucks]

Not too mention the poor people of Sao Paolo are running out of water..period.

Was reading(Robert Scribbler environment site) their main reservoir, serving 10 million people is down to 5.4%. Supposedly Rio's is down to 10%. Their Amazon deforestation is largely being attributed as a major cause.

Can't believe how mass media have avoided this potential catastrophe. Utterly confounding.

I told you guys:

São Paulo: "a wierd mixture of LA, NY and Coruscant".

well. put some Tattoine there too...

but everybody likes Rio de Janeiro except the Brazilians who are not from Rio de Janeiro because they know for real what happens in Rio so they/we avoid it...

Russian Army on Ukranian border. meh! if the Russian Army decide invade Rio de Janeiro the entire Brazil would sing in Russian the song "Girl from Ipanema" just to say thanks...

[Nuxfanabroad]

^Aero-man, Thanks, my ADD's kickin' in with vigour..So can you get a drinka' water in Sao Paolo?

Expecting your further writings to flow as poetic prose. One who dances with those girls(you tol' us about) must write with the flair of Pablo Neruda...

[aeromotacanucks]

^Aero-man, Thanks, my ADD's kickin' in with vigour..So can you get a drinka' water in Sao Paolo?

Expecting your further writings to flow as poetic prose. One who dances with those girls(you tol' us about) must write with the flair of Pablo Neruda...

I don´t know man. with 14 million of people living in São Paulo probably sooner or later they will find a way to do just like some cactus. hold as much water you can to save. errr, water?

but the most amazing is. RAINS ALMOST EVERYDAY in São Paulo (during the summer) BUT NOT on the dams/lakes/reservoirs because many of these reservoirs are lokated 30KM or more from São Paulo...

means that while the city floods because the rivers also flood and fill the city with poluted water and Paulistas "enjoy" 10 hours of caos and being trapped on their own cars...

the reservoirs remain dry because rains on the city BUT NOT where it is needed...

I´m in Curitiba. the city where in the middle of the SUMMER you can have 5Celsius! I´m not kidding. rains like hell, then cold, than hot again, then rain, than storms and then just for fun some cold again...

PS: Curitiba is 400KM south from São Paulo

[Nuxfanabroad]

Interesting. Thanks for that info. The site I mentioned above(Robertscribbler.com) has had a lot of Brazil eco-info that I've been enjoying. Educational stuff, including comments from the locals.

Had perused a few of your posts over the months as well. It sounds like you're living a pretty good adventure, down there..next lifetime I may well follow your lead.

Taker'er easy, man.

[aeromotacanucks]

Interesting. Thanks for that info. The site I mentioned above(Robertscribbler.com) has had a lot of Brazil eco-info that I've been enjoying. Educational stuff, including comments from the locals.

Had perused a few of your posts over the months as well. It sounds like you're living a pretty good adventure, down there..next lifetime I may well follow your lead.

Taker'er easy, man.

live in Brazil is a constant adventure...

starting by our wierd and confusing language...

then things that in North America are considered "standart" in Brazil is considering "wow! it´s working just like the law told is supposed to work!"

then cities with unique and confusing regional accents. such as Porto Alegre, Recife, Fortaleza, Manaus, Curitiba (and goes on for a long list)

the fact that Brazilians complain of complain of being complaining too much about something they´re complaining for a long time...

then the fact that Brazilians (every one) are mingy/money grubber. Brazilians will try EVERYTHING possible before pay for something fix the problem.

in USA/Canada when something brake people there simply pay for somebody fix it because it´s the fastest and easiest way to solve the problem...

Brazilians will save EVERY SINGLE CENT trying solve the problem by themselves even if takes much more time because a true Brazilian will never give up untill things are totally screwed...

then while the world cares about "ecology" in Brazil people say "meh! there´s a lot of forest there in the North where Manaus and Belém are located"

Education for Brazilians means this:

"If you have money to educate your kinds on a private school that super, if not study as hard as you ass to get qualified for the Military School (army/air force/navy). if not and you have to go to the public school, then I´m sorry but you are f#¨$%&ed"

be a Brazilian is an adventure want your or not...

[aeromotacanucks]

It's world cup all over again. I wonder what our dear Brazilian pilot thinks of this. These news articles will gain traction in 2016, when it's too late to make a difference. And again, people will ignore the problems and reject a boycott because that's somehow unfair to the people here who trained. It's such twisted logic.

I think that Rio de Janeiro isn´t the best choice at all.

wanna make an Olympic Event in Brazil? what about Brasilia/DF (Brazil´s capital)? Salvador? Recife? Florianopolis? or even São Paulo?

Rio is a famous city and nothing more than it. it´s like LA. people go to LA because of Hollywood but people also know that LA has a lot of problems that doesn´t make the city the best choice to live...

people think that Rio´s beaches are the best but they don´t check that in Northeast there´s much more beaches with warm water all year long. also in Northeast the food is unique, it´s regional as well the local culture and the most important, it´s cheap to go there.

oh! but in Rio you can eat "rice and beans and feijoada". pffff. you can eat rice and beans and feijoada on every single city in Brazil...

oh! but in Rio there´s a lot of nice girls. pffff. go to Minas Gerais, Goiais or Rio Grande do Sul (states of Brazil) and you will need punch your penis till you die because there´s so many gorgeous girls on these places you will have a constant erection. blonde, black, mixed. you can have all. and the most important. girls in these places are friendly...

people from Rio de Janeiro are stupid. for them Rio is the only city that matter in Brazil even if they know that São Paulo is the biggest and most industrialized city, that Brasilia is the capital, that Natal and Fortaleza have waaaaayyyy better beaches, that Manaus have a better food, that Porto Alegre have more hot girls...

but no. for people in Rio de Janeiro the city is the only one. even if they also know that more people die in Rio de Janeiro in one month than in Iraq, Syria or North Korea in one year. but these dummies still think that "Rio de Janeiro is the best and the only city in Brazil"

aham Cariocas. stay on your civil war and with your stupid and anoying portuguese accent. Brazil is not only Rio de Janeiro...

[riffraff]

Olympics.

Do we really need them?

[Miss Korea Bob.Loblaw]

I think that Rio de Janeiro isn´t the best choice at all.

wanna make an Olympic Event in Brazil? what about Brasilia/DF (Brazil´s capital)? Salvador? Recife? Florianopolis? or even São Paulo?

Rio is a famous city and nothing more than it. it´s like LA. people go to LA because of Hollywood but people also know that LA has a lot of problems that doesn´t make the city the best choice to live...

people think that Rio´s beaches are the best but they don´t check that in Northeast there´s much more beaches with warm water all year long. also in Northeast the food is unique, it´s regional as well the local culture and the most important, it´s cheap to go there.

oh! but in Rio you can eat "rice and beans and feijoada". pffff. you can eat rice and beans and feijoada on every single city in Brazil...

oh! but in Rio there´s a lot of nice girls. pffff. go to Minas Gerais, Goiais or Rio Grande do Sul (states of Brazil) and you will need punch your penis till you die because there´s so many gorgeous girls on these places you will have a constant erection. blonde, black, mixed. you can have all. and the most important. girls in these places are friendly...

people from Rio de Janeiro are stupid. for them Rio is the only city that matter in Brazil even if they know that São Paulo is the biggest and most industrialized city, that Brasilia is the capital, that Natal and Fortaleza have waaaaayyyy better beaches, that Manaus have a better food, that Porto Alegre have more hot girls...

but no. for people in Rio de Janeiro the city is the only one. even if they also know that more people die in Rio de Janeiro in one month than in Iraq, Syria or North Korea in one year. but these dummies still think that "Rio de Janeiro is the best and the only city in Brazil"

aham Cariocas. stay on your civil war and with your stupid and anoying portuguese accent. Brazil is not only Rio de Janeiro...

My one impression of Rio: