For the first time in a decade, Rio de Janeiro's beaches are safe for swimming.
For the first time in more than a decade, Rio de Janeiro's
beaches are safe for swimming.
The coastline of Brazil’s seaside city has been plagued with
raw sewage, industrial pollution and rubbish for years.
Guanabara Bay, with its iconic views of Sugarloaf Mountain
and Christ the Redeemer, has been especially hard hit.
But a massive clean up operation is finally changing that.
Water testing, sanitation initiatives and favourable weather
conditions have now transformed the waters into a pristine playground for beach
lovers.
How has Rio cleaned up its beaches?
In 2021, Rio state authorities privatised the region’s
failing water and sanitation service Cedae. It is now owned by Aguas do Rio,
which has been working to prevent untreated sewage from being dumped on the
city’s beaches.
Under a five year plan with a promised 2.7 billion reais
(€508 million) investment, the company has managed to overturn years of failed
cleanup programmes.
It has installed new pumping systems, revitalised the city’s
sewage systems and diverted the polluted Rio Carioca river - which flows into
Guanabara Bay - to an interceptor that prevents rubbish and sewage from
reaching the beach.
It has also removed hundreds of tonnes of waste from the
interceptor to increase its flow and drainage capacity. Parts of it had not
been cleaned since its construction 50 years ago.
“When we see such a quick change in certain areas of the
Guanabara Bay we realise that what was lacking was serious work, permanent
work,” says Brazilian biologist Mário Moscatelli. “And that’s what has been
happening for the last two years up until now.”
He believes that in the next 15 years, the whole bay - which
spans four cities - could be as clean as the Rio section.
By the end of Aguas do Rio’s 35-year contract, it has
pledged 24.4 billion reais (€4.6 billion) to bring the sewage-treatment rate to
90 per cent.
This follows years of broken promises to improve sewage
treatment and clean up the polluted bay, including in the lead up to the 2016
Olympics when the state declared insolvency and failed to address the
headline-grabbing pollution.
Swimmers are returning to Rio’s waters
Along with Guanabara Bay, Botafogo, Flamengo and Copacabana
beaches have also seen the benefits.
Botafogo “used to be unsuitable for swimming, no one ever
came here” says fisherman Abel da Silva. “Now people are coming back.”
The country's State Environment Institute (INEA) has been
collecting samples from beach waters since 2007 and analysing for faecal
bacteria.
Its 22 September readings showed that only two sections in
Barra da Tijuca beach, on Rio’s west side, were unsuitable for swimming.
In the past, entire beaches have been deemed unsuitable to
swim in. Now all beaches have swimmable sections.
Rio’s State Government puts the improvement down to recent
sanitation works and a lack of rain in recent days