Olympic pollution protest10 Aug 2015Rio de Janiero with the cesspit that is Guanabara Bay in the backgroundFLOTILLA: A week before trial events and a year before the Río Olympics a 12km protest cruise has taken place to draw attention to the pollution still present in Guanabara Bay, the venue for the sailing regatta writes Stuart Fisher.Brazil’s Olympic medallist Isabel Swan worked with the Baia Viva movement to plan the protest, which drew a flotilla of over 30 boats from sailing craft to outrigger canoes and sea kayaks, accompanied by the boats of local fishermen who are also affected by the pollution.Industrial effluent and, particularly, sewage are the main problems and have resulted in many dead fish floating in the bay. Two thirds of sewage is untreated.The authorities promised to build eight water treatment plants, but only one of these has been constructed so far.They have admitted their target of removing 80% of the pollution from the bay will not be achieved, threatening the health of those competing.The Beijing course suffered from algal blooms, but these were cleared in the final weeks before the 2008 regatta. Weymouth had no such problems.Calls from many in the sailing world to move the watersports venues have been rejected by the authorities, who want all of the events to be within the city.

via Boating Business – Olympic pollution protest.