--- title: Rio 2016 Olympics: Guanabara Bay Pollution Video description: Watch a 360 degree video of Rio's horrific pollution and the mess in Guanabara Bay–home of Olympic sailing canonical: https://time.com/4438147/rio2016-olympicsguanabarabaypollution/ author: Sean Gregory article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-04T15:10:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T12:12:26.669Z article:section: Sports og:title: VIDEO: This Is What Rio’s Terrible Pollution Looks Like og:description: It’s a gaseous stench: inhale it at your stomach’s own risk og:url: https://time.com/4438147/rio2016-olympicsguanabarabaypollution/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa8ab82f7256e855/6988a11bbc6cfc98823de1dd/guanabara-bay-rio-olympics.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rio Olympics Filthy Water og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: VIDEO: This Is What Rio’s Terrible Pollution Looks Like twitter:description: It’s a gaseous stench: inhale it at your stomach’s own risk twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa8ab82f7256e855/6988a11bbc6cfc98823de1dd/guanabara-bay-rio-olympics.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is What Rio’s Terrible Pollution Looks Like On the Ground > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Sean Gregory / Rio de Janeiro](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/) and [Julia Lull](https://time.com/author/julia-lull/) Aug 4, 2016 3:10 PM UTC  Houses sit next to a heavily polluted shore in Guanabara bay in Rio de Janeiro on July 30, 2016. Houses sit next to a heavily polluted shore in Guanabara bay in Rio de Janeiro on July 30, 2016.Felipe Dana—AP by [Sean Gregory / Rio de Janeiro](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/) and [Julia Lull](https://time.com/author/julia-lull/) Aug 4, 2016 3:10 PM UTC Forget about the floating tires. You can spot those in the water even in clean cities around the world. What gobsmacks you as you approach a canal near the Rio international airport, a body of water that flows into the city’s Guanabara Bay – home of the [2016 Olympics](http://time.com/topic/2016-rio-olympics/) sailing venue — is the smell. It’s a gaseous stench: inhale it at your stomach’s own risk. There’s also the sludge, so thick you slip on it. And the sheer mass of stuff: Christmas ornaments, milk cartons, cookie packaging, clothes sitting in the stew. Then there are all the insidious things you can’t see. Why is Guanabara Bay in such dire shape? “For the past 30 years, we’ve invested very, very little money in it,” says Paulo Rosman, a professor of coastal engineering at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He says some $800 million has been spent in bay cleanup since 1990\. In contrast, Maracana stadium, home of the opening and closing ceremonies, was given a $400 million facelift ahead of the 2014 World Cup. (**Read More:** [60 Athletes to Watch in Rio](http://time.com/4424414/rio-olympics-2016-summer-athletes/)) Indeed, falling far short of their promise, made seven years ago, to clean up 80% of the pollution in Guanabara Bay is among the biggest failures of the Rio Olympic organizers. While the water is said to be cleaner than it was before Rio won the bid for these Summer Games, the pollution is still putting athletes competing in the bay and other bodies of water around the city — sailors, open water swimmers, rowers, triathletes — at risk. [An Associated Press investigation](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/2c9894db31b74fc081d7f1ee3f0cf673/expert-rio-athletes-dont-put-your-head-under-water) in early August found that Rio’s water is “as filthy as ever, contaminated with raw human sewage teeming with dangerous viruses and bacteria.” To Rosman, the promise to clean the waterways was all but guaranteed to fail. He says the reason is social more than scientific. “Everyone looks out into the water and says it’s a problem,” says Rosman. “Put your back to the bay, and you’ll see the problem. It’s as simple as that. There’s no magic in that.” (**Read More:** [Brazil’s Impeached President Talks to TIME)](http://time.com/4433320/brazil-dilma-rousseff-impeachment-olympics/) What you see when you turn away from the bay are the [favelas housing millions of Rio’s poor residents](http://time.com/4143887/rio-de-janeiro-olympics-favelas-eviction/). These impoverished neighborhoods, scattered atop the city’s hills and mountains, often lack basic sanitary services, like plumbing and garbage pickup. Without these essentials, waste flows into water. “People there are fighting for survival,” says Rosman. “They’re worried about quantity of life, not quality. They go to the bathroom and have to use plastic bags to clean up. Where to these plastic bags end up? The bay. It’s a tragedy.” One that’s far more serious, and lasting, than anything confronting the sailors, rowers and swimmers during these Olympic Games. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4438147/rio2016-olympicsguanabarabaypollution/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4438147/rio2016-olympicsguanabarabaypollution/"},"headline":"This Is What Rio’s Terrible Pollution Looks Like On the Ground","datePublished":"2016-08-04T15:10:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T12:12:26.669Z","description":"It’s a gaseous stench: inhale it at your stomach’s own risk","url":"https://time.com/4438147/rio2016-olympicsguanabarabaypollution/","keywords":["Pollution","World","Summer Olympics","2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","Science","Sports"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa8ab82f7256e855/6988a11bbc6cfc98823de1dd/guanabara-bay-rio-olympics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sean Gregory / Rio de Janeiro"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Lull","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-lull/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaa8ab82f7256e855/6988a11bbc6cfc98823de1dd/guanabara-bay-rio-olympics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rio Olympics Filthy Water","caption":"Houses sit next to a heavily polluted shore in Guanabara bay in Rio de Janeiro on July 30, 2016.","creditText":"Felipe Dana—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4438147/rio2016-olympicsguanabarabaypollution/","name":"This Is What Rio’s Terrible Pollution Looks Like On the Ground"}}]}] ```