OLYMPICS-BRAZIL/DOCUMENTARY-POLLUTION Environmental studies students release films on pollution at Rio’s Olympic sailing venue

Record ID: 151281

  • Title: OLYMPICS-BRAZIL/DOCUMENTARY-POLLUTION Environmental studies students release films on pollution at Rio’s Olympic sailing venue
  • Date: 13th June 2015
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (FILE - 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF TRASH WASHED UP ON BEACHES ON THE GUANABARA BAY SEABIRDS SITTING ON POSTS NEAR THE BAY TRASH ON THE SHORE OF THE BAY WITH SEABIRDS AND A BRIDGE IN THE BACKGROUND TRASH NEAR THE NEAR THE SHORELINE RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (FILE - 2014) (REUTERS) AERIAL OF THE MARINA DA GLORIA AERIAL OF SAILBOAT IN THE WATER OF THE BAY
  • Embargoed: 28th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA50I003UKZGGIWKHHH7V3CXDFE
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A group of university students launched a series of documentary films designed to educate people on the need to clean up Rio de Janeiro's postcard Guanabara Bay on Thursday (June 11).
    The premier of the student-made short films comes just over a year before the start of the 2016 Olympic Games which will be hosted in Rio in 2016.
    Pollution levels in the bay, which will host sailing events, have concerned the International Olympic Committee as Rio prepares to host the mega sporting event.
    A professor at the Cleso Suckow da Fonseca Federal Technology Education Centre in Rio (CEFET/RJ), Doctor Marcelo Borges Rocha started the Conexao Ambiental (Environmental Connection) environmental group at the university to raise awareness and create a series of documentary films to educate people on the importance of protecting the environment.
    Over the course of the past year, he and his students have focused on making four films on the dangers of pollution at the Guanabara Bay.
    All four films, each with a different topic affecting the bay, premiered at Thursday's launch.
    Rocha told Reuters pollution levels are not just detrimental to marine life here, but that the waters are also dangerous to humans.
    He said swimming in the water can lead to health problems if contaminants enter the body through the mouth, ears or eyes, for example.
    "If you go to the beaches on the Guanabara Bay, they will be clean. You won't visibly see trash or floating debris because it's been a long time since we've had rain. But that doesn't mean the bay is in conditions for swimming. Because there are micro-organism studies, physical studies, chemical studies; so a lot of the time you can't see the pollution, but it's there. So people end up taking it for what they're seeing. And this is a big risk to human health. A lot of viral illnesses, bacterial illnesses, can be passed through this contaminated water," Rocha said.
    The hazards aren't just for swimmers. Simply being splashed by the water can be a risk if contaminated water enters the body.
    This could put Olympic sailors, who don't typically swim in the water but can easily be splashed, at risk.
    The state of Rio de Janeiro had originally pledged to reduce pollution in the notoriously fetid Guanabara Bay by 80 percent but officials confirmed in March that the target will not be reached.
    Instead, they are now concentrating only on parts of the bay where sailing competitions will take place. They have insisted that these areas will be safe for athletes.
    But just this week the International Olympic Committee said it is still concerned about progress in cleaning up the bay.
    Rocha told Reuters he does not think it is possible to make the water safe in the short time that is left before competitions because clean-up efforts cannot be successful as long as raw sewage continues flowing into the bay.
    "The results won't be 100 percent effective by 2016. Why? Because it's working on de-polluting. At the same time there is this enormous process of (ongoing) pollution; spills, sewage, even people who go to the bay and leave their own waste. So there is a huge amount of pollution being added which doesn't help the de-pollution process. Which is already a process that requires treating rivers, treating sewage, eco-barriers to prevent these materials from getting out there. And truthfully this won't happen in a year, it's impossible," said Rocha.
    Part of the state's cleanup plan includes treating water from rivers that carry trash and sewage downstream into the bay.
    The state also said it would expand capacity at sewage treatment plants, but that has not come as quickly as promised.
    The so-called eco-barriers, designed to trap floating debris, have also come up short.
    Despite millions of dollars of investment over the years, the bay still stinks of sewage.
    On parts of the bay not kept up by city trash collectors, rubbish almost completely covers the neglected beaches.
    One of the student directors whose film Biodiversidade e Poluicao na Baia de Guanabara (Biodiversity and Pollution in the Guanabara Bay) premiered at the event, Alexander Ramos, said the government needs to expand cleanup initiatives.
    "I think the authorities could do more to de-pollute the Guanabara Bay. We keep seeing that the authorities are moving back their goals as far as trying to clean up the Guanabara Bay. And what we're seeing is that this isn't happening in practice. We are rooting, we're rooting for a great Olympics, but we're seeing that the authorities are not moving as fast as they should be," the 22-year-old environmental management student said.
    Another student director, Lucas Almeida, agreed that even the government's rolled back targets were not likely to be met.
    "Unfortunately the Guanabara Bay is still filthy and they're not going to finish, the pollution is going to continue just the same. And this project, the de-polluting of the Guanabara Bay, has to be years-long, you know? So there are still a lot of studies (that need to be done) to finish this plan" Almeida, said.
    In August, Rio will host its second test event for sailing competitions at the Marina da Gloria in the Guanabara Bay.
    During the last test event a year ago, athletes complained of floating sofas and animal carcasses in the water.
    But floating debris could be the least of the sailors' concerns.
    Biologists last year said rivers leading into the bay contained a superbacteria that is resistant to antibiotics and can cause urinary, gastrointestinal and pulmonary infections.
    It remains to be seen what state the bay will be in during the 2016 Olympics, but most biologists agree the water is not fit for humans to swim in now and could pose a health risk to swimmers and Olympic athletes come 2016.
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