Rio de Janeiro officials "unveiled a new sanitation project that aims to eliminate the
stain of raw sewage defiling the waters of Rio de Janeiro’s Gloria
Marina, where the 2016 Olympic sailing events are to be held," according to the AP. Under the agreement, Rio’s state government "is building a
1-kilometer-long pipeline in the city’s Flamengo neighborhood to stem
the flow of raw sewage into the Marina." The $6.2M project "will
connect area rainwater collectors with a sewage treatment center in the
Ipanema Beach area." In
Rio’s Olympic bid, officials promised that a major cleanup of waterways "would be among lasting legacies of the 2016 Summer Games, but they
have repeatedly come under fire for the sluggish progress of the
cleanup." The pipeline was not among the projects initially
promised but is a response to a very visible -- "and stinky" -- problem
that has been in the "media spotlight of late." Officials said that "ground could be broken as early as next week,
with construction scheduled to last one year" (AP, 9/4).
