RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Olympic waters in this city are more widely contaminated by sewage than previously known and pose a greater threat to athletes’ health ahead of next year’s games, according to new results from tests commissioned by The Associated Press.
Expanded analysis of Rio’s waterways shows that high viral and in some cases bacterial counts are found not just along shorelines where raw sewage runs into waterbodies, but far offshore where athletes will compete in sailing, rowing and canoeing.
That means there is no dilution factor in the bay or lagoon where events will take place.