An Overdue Olympic Pledge To Restore Rio De Janeiro’s Lagoons Is Finally Taking Shape

Rio de Janeiro —When Rio de Janeiro hosted the Olympics in 2016, videos of the vast lagoon complex surrounding the Olympic Park were everywhere. Many believed that the influx of spending associated with the international sporting event would repair the city’s waterways, which had been fouled by sewage and garbage for years. That did not happen.

Eight years later, a private concessionaire strives to restore the aquatic habitat in Rio’s west zone. The Barra and Jacarepagua lagoons will have enough dirt and filth removed to fill 920 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Dredging began in late April and is scheduled to last three years, according to Igua, the corporation that recently took water and sewage management in the city’s western areas.

Olympics | PixaBay Image

An Overdue Olympic Pledge To Restore Rio De Janeiro’s Lagoons Is Finally Taking Shape

Over the previous 50 years, western Rio’s real estate development has skyrocketed. Mangroves and coastal trees were filled in and paved to make space for gated communities and high-end apartment buildings. Márcio Santa Rosa, who oversaw the environmental management and sustainability strategy for the 2016 Olympic bid, claimed that despite being required by law to treat their sewage, many people turned it off at night to save money. Local watersheds also received untreated trash from informal working-class communities.

Before the 2016 games, Santa Rosa’s office pledged to rehabilitate the lagoon complex, and the state government conducted considerable research. But it became tied down in bureaucracy, he explained.

“There was a dispute between (state and federal) public prosecutors, and the project didn’t move forward,” Santa Rosa, who now manages sustainable sea economy and bay management at Rio’s environmental secretariat, told The Associated Press by phone. “Incredibly, we lost the opportunity to do this cleanup work during the Olympics.”

In 2021, Rio’s state government separated water distribution and sewage collection from its utility, Cedae, and auctioned off four 35-year concession zones. Winning bidders may forfeit their concessions if they fail to fulfill the contractually stated target of increasing sewage collection and treatment to 90% by 2033 and meet specific environmental conditions. Igua needs to clean up the lagoon complex.

Olympics | PixaBay Image

An Overdue Olympic Pledge To Restore Rio De Janeiro’s Lagoons Is Finally Taking Shape

Before the deal, expectations were “the worst possible,” according to Mario Moscatelli, a biologist and coastal ecosystem expert who has long criticized the state’s inability to control sewage flow into rivers.

“We had the Pan-American Games, the Olympic Games, the World Cup, thousands of Olympic promises and environmental legacies that ended up not happening,” he stated.

However, Moscatelli claims that while working as a consultant for Igua, he noticed improvements in lagoon conditions. He compared it to a terminally ill patient suddenly up and walking.

To clean up the lagoon complex, Igua must invest 2.7 billion Brazilian reais ($510 million) in its concession area, including 250 million reais. Aside from dredging, Igua is rehabilitating the canals connecting the lagoons to the Atlantic Ocean, building collectors to minimize untreated sewage discharge, and restoring natural mangrove trees.

Olympics | PixaBay Image

An Overdue Olympic Pledge To Restore Rio De Janeiro’s Lagoons Is Finally Taking Shape

Reversing decades of degradation and the lack of watershed management will take time.

“This is a medium- to long-term path. “We still can’t evaluate or verify any gains because all of these actions must be carried out,” said Lucas Arrosti, Igua’s operational director. “Only after they’re completed will we start to see significant changes in water quality.”

SOURCE – (AP)