“Tristeza de Guanabara,” Bahía de Guanabara, Rio de Janeiro. Captions and Photo source: ©© Omar Uran
Excerpts;
Environmentalists and scientists say Rio’s waters are much more contaminated than previously thought.
Despite the government’s promises seven years ago to stem the waste that fouls Rio’s expansive Guanabara Bay and the city’s fabled ocean beaches, officials acknowledge that their efforts to treat raw sewage and scoop up household garbage have fallen far short…
Read Full Article, The New York Times (07-26-2016)
No Medals for Sanitation at Rio Olympics, IPS News (07-27-2016)
The biggest frustration at the Olympic Games, to be inaugurated in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on August 5, is the failure to meet environmental sanitation targets and promises in the city’s beaches, rivers, lakes and lagoons…
Super bacteria’ discovered in Rio’s waters; CNN (07-05-2016)
A group of Brazilian scientists have detected a drug-resistant bacteria growing off of some of Rio de Janeiro’s most stunning beaches…
Experts Warn of Health Risk on Rio de Janeiro Beaches, Latino Fx News (03-03-2015)
The sands on the beaches of this Brazilian tourist mecca are heavily polluted, mainly thanks to trash left behind by beachgoers, experts told EFE. Rio de Janeiro’s world-famous Copacabana and Ipanema are among the areas contaminated to the point that dermatologists recommend avoiding skin contact with the sand…
Polluted Rio de Janeiro Beach Ruled Out for Pro Surfing Competition, Guardian UK (04-30-2015)
Funding problems hit plan to clean Rio’s polluted waterways ahead of Olympics, Guardian UK (02-03-2016)
With the Olympic Games upcoming, Rio de Janeiro has a problem with rubbish. Hundreds of tonnes of unprocessed waste flow into the Guanabara Bay every year. Previous promises from Rio officials to regenerate Rio’s waterways through investment in sanitation have not delivered results…
Rio’s Olympic Waters Blighted By Heavy Pollution, BBC News (01-19-2014)
Rio summit exposes grim Guanabara Bay, Terra Daily / AFP (06-13-2012)
BHP dam disaster coats Brazil’s pristine beaches, AFR (12-28-2015)
After the collapse, in November, of a dam holding back mining waste, 50 million metric tons of sludge is spreading now off the coast between Rio de Janeiro and Bahia states, turning the pristine blue waters brown along an expected 30 miles of beaches, amid concerns it will cause severe pollution….
Mud From Brazil Dam Burst Is Toxic, UN Experts Say, United Nations (11-25-2015)
The scale of the environmental damage is the equivalent of 20,000 Olympic swimming pools of toxic mud waste contaminating the soil, rivers and water system of an area covering over 850 kilometers…
