Wintry mix spreads across Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

It's no secret that the water at some of the 2016 Olympic venues in Rio de Janeiro has some problems.

The Associated Press has just put some science into it

 by commissioning tests over a five-month period.


What the wire service found is pretty gross. In short, the water is "rife with human sewage," teeming with high levels of viruses and bacteria. Not a single Olympic venue, the AP testing found, is fit for swimming or boating.

The raw numbers? In one venue, the Rodrigo de Freitas lake, the AP found 14 million adenoviruses per liter to 1.7 billion per liter.

Environmental News

Health

Sports

The AP commissioned tests over a five-month period. Experts who reviewed the results found that not a single venue is fit for swimming or even boating.

Testing by AP finds water at 2016 Olympic sites 'rife with human sewage'

Go Deeper.

Like this?

News you can use in your inbox