SOURCE:
HOTAIR.COMURL:
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/07/21/rio-de-janeiro-is-on-track-to-be-the-filth-olympics/by: Jazz Shaw
We’re only a little more than two weeks away from the opening of the Summer Olympic Games in Rio and the excitement is mounting. Unfortunately, so are the piles of dead fish washing up in the harbor outside of the Olympic Village where some of the sailing events will take place. The fetid masses of algae and clumps of human waste which infest the water, deplete the oxygen and kill off the marine life are not going away, despite the promises Brazil made when they bid to host the games originally. And at this point, nobody thinks that’s going to miraculously change in a fortnight.
As the Washington Post describes it, this isn’t a problem specific to these games. The local fisherman have been despondent over the conditions for years.
In seeking to host the Summer Olympics, Brazil promised “green games for a blue planet.” It pledged to clean up waterways around future Olympic sites, including a lagoon in front of the planned Olympic Park, and to remove 80 percent of the sewage flowing into the bay where most sailing races would be held.
It appears none of these goals will be reached when the Olympics open Aug. 5. Instead of the Green Games, these may be the Filth Olympics…
Jacarapaguá Lagoon is one of four lakes in an interlinked system connected to the sea. The lagoons and many of the rivers feeding into them are heavily polluted. A day earlier, grey scum swirled on the Pavuninha River, which skirts one side of the Olympic Park.
Ferreira and the few dozen fishermen living in the area say they can no longer scrape a living from these waters, which are so polluted that dead fish sometimes float on the surface.
“This lagoon is dead. There is nothing left,” said Francisco Costa, 57, president of their association.
Here’s a brief video report to peruse simply because words don’t really do the filthy conditions justice.
CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO...
