A recent article by the Associated Press (AP) headlined Expert to Rio athletes: ‘Don’t put your head under water’ details the serious water quality issues surrounding sites of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro where athletes will be swimming, rowing and sailing, along with beaches that thousands of tourists will be visiting.
The report is based on a 16-month-long study of the water quality in Rio de Janeiro commissioned by the AP that revealed a very high 1.73 billion adenoviruses per liter of water in Rio’s Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon (where Olympic rowing events will take place) back in March 2015, and a lower-but-still-high 248 million adenoviruses per liter just two months ago.
To put that in perspective, the article notes: “By comparison, in California, viral readings in the thousands per liter set off alarm bells.” And it’s not just the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon (though that is one of the most contaminated waterways), the AP study discovered infectious adenovirus readings at “nearly 90% of test sites over 16 months of testing”.
Rio’s poor water quality could be potentially dangerous to anyone who gets in the water or even goes on the beach. According to the report, “Not only are some 1,400 athletes at risk of getting violently ill in water competitions, but the AP’s tests indicate that tourists also face potentially serious health risks on the golden beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana.”
To learn more about the results of the Rio water quality study, read the full report from the Associated Press here.
