RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A top official at sailing’s governing body says it may conduct independent water-quality tests in Rio de Janeiro’s polluted Guanabara Bay, the sailing venue for the 2016 Olympics and the site of Rio’s first test event in 2½ months.
Any hope the sewage-filled bay would be cleaned up soon was quashed in a document obtained by The Associated Press.
In a May 7 letter to sports minister Aldo Rebelo, Rio’s state environment secretary Carlos Francisco Portinho acknowledged in a best-case scenario that pollution flowing into the bay could be cut to “over 50 percent” — well below the promised reduction of 80 percent.
