Brazilian authorities said they will not have time to ensure the necessary quality of the bodies of water for the sailing competitions for the 2016 Olympic Games, the Associated Press reported.
Last Friday, new Environment Minister Andre Correa said he could not say how much progress special services had made in cleaning up the waters of Gaunabara Bay, but reducing pollution by 80 percent, as previously promised, was little realistic.
«Get rid of 80% of the pollutants? It's not going to happen, it's not going to happen»," Correa is quoted by the AP as saying.
At the same time the politicians are sure that water pollution will not interfere with the races: «Pollution will not affect the athletes, there is no huge risk of catching an infection. I'm not worried about water quality in these areas. I'm more concerned about floating debris». The current technology for catching trash is not working well, but Correa has promised to fix that.
Recall that the Rio de Janeiro Olympics are 18 months away. Environmentalists have long been sounding the alarm about the state of the city's coastal waters: in particular, a superinfection was previously discovered in the bay, and dead fish are periodically dumped
on the shore.
