U.S.
sailor lends hand to clean Rio's bay before Games
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[July 30, 2016]
By Thales Carneiro
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Bobbing on
Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay in a blue and white fishing boat,
American sailor Brad Funk uses a plastic bin to scoop rubbish from
the waters where Olympic sailing races will take place next month.
Funk missed out on his dream of competing in Rio 2016 in the two-man
49er sailing class, but traveled to Brazil anyway with the aim of
clearing the path for those who did, including his girlfriend
British windsurfer Bryony Shaw.
A native of Clearwater, Florida, Funk is leading his own clean-up
effort to help remove rubbish from the Bay which is clogged by
sewage from some 15 municipalities, home to some 9 million people.
“I decided that if I am not going to compete, I want the sailors to
not have problems when they sail,” he told Reuters. “I love Rio, and
it is very important to me that the Olympic Games is a success and
the trash does not get stuck on the sailboats, taking medals away
from them.”
In recent months, concern flared over pollution levels in the bay
and nearby sea, where sailing, windsurfing and long-distance
swimming events are being held.
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Two academic studies seen by Reuters in June showed the waters were
infected by drug-resistant super bacteria and microbes normally
found only in hospitals.
The State Environmental Agency (Inea), which is conducting daily
monitoring of water quality with the help of the World Health
Organization (WHO), insists the water quality is fine, helped by the
rapid movement of water through the mouth of the bay where events
will be held.
More worrying for many competitors, however, is the floating debris
which could crash against boats and slow them down in the
competition.
Inea has deployed 12 green eco-boats - each with a wire metal scoop
on the front that lifts rubbish out of the water and into its hull.
It has also placed 17 red floating eco-barriers across the mouth of
rivers and canals feeding the bay, which collect debris floating on
the water's surface.
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![](../images/073016pics/sports55.jpg)
American sailor Brad Funk collects garbage during a small clean-up
effort to remove rubbish from the notoriously dirty Guanabara Bay,
ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil July
29, 2016. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Mar/14/images/ads/current/tires250x300.gif)
Just the eco-barrier in the Canal do Cunha had collected 208 tonnes
of rubbish in the last month, Inea said.
Brazilian sailors said recently that the work of eco-boats picking
up rubbish along competition routes had improved the situation
considerably, but that more needed to be done.
Inea has appealed to Rio's citizens to stop throwing waste into
canals and into the bay.
On the airplane over to Rio, Funk met Camila Avelar who decided to
volunteer to help his effort, hoping to inspire a chain reaction.
“A lot of people say that the two of us trying to clear the rubbish
from the sea will not make any difference," Avelar said.
"But I don’t think that is the point, it is the attitude and
encouraging other people to do the same thing."
(Writing by by Daniel Flynn; Editing by Mary Milliken)
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