里約水污染驚人 參加水上運動切勿張嘴

RIO DE JANEIRO — Health experts in Brazil have a word of advice for the Olympic marathon swimmers, sailors and windsurfers competing in Rio de Janeiro’s picture-postcard waters next Month: Keep your mouth closed.

里約熱內盧——巴西的健康專家向那些將於下月在里約風景如畫的水域比賽的超長距離游泳運動員、帆船運動員和帆板運動員發出警告：閉緊你的嘴巴。

Despite the government’s promises seven years ago to stem the waste that fouls Rio’s expansive Guanabara Bay and the city’s fabled ocean beaches, officials acknowledge that their efforts to treat raw sewage and scoop up household garbage have fallen far short.

里約廣闊的瓜納巴拉灣及其久負盛名的海灘深受污染之害。儘管政府7年前就承諾要杜絕污染物的排放，但官員們承認，他們在處理未經淨化的污水、清理生活垃圾方面做得遠遠不夠。

In fact, environmentalists and scientists say Rio’s waters are much more contaminated than previously thought.

環保人士和科學家稱，事實上，里約水域受污染的嚴重程度遠超以前的估計。

Recent tests by government and independent scientists revealed a veritable petri dish of pathogens in many of the city’s waters, from rotaviruses that can cause diarrhea and vomiting to drug-resistant “super bacteria” that can be fatal to people with weakened immune systems.

政府和獨立科學家最近進行的檢測表明，該市的許多水域都是名副其實的病原體培養皿，裏邊既有能夠導致腹瀉和嘔吐的輪狀病毒，也有具有抗藥性、可能會讓免疫系統薄弱者喪命的“超級細菌”。

Researchers at the Federal University of Rio also found serious contamination at the upscale beaches of Ipanema and Leblon, where many of the half-million Olympic spectators are expected to frolic between sporting events.

里約聯邦大學(Federal University of Rio)的研究人員還發現，富裕人羣光顧的伊帕內馬海灘和萊伯倫海灘也受到了嚴重污染。據預計，在專程來看奧運會的50萬遊客當中，很多人都會趁着賽事的間隙在那些海灘上嬉戲。

“Foreign athletes will literally be swimming in human crap, and they risk getting sick from all those microorganisms,” said Dr. Daniel Becker, a local pediatrician who works in poor neighborhoods. “It’s sad, but also worrisome.”

“外國運動員簡直是將在人類的糞便中游泳，所有這些微生物讓他們面臨着患病的風險，”在當地較爲貧窮的社區工作的兒科醫生丹尼爾•貝克爾(Daniel Becker)說。“這相當可悲，也令人擔憂。”

Government officials and the International Olympic Committee acknowledge that, in many places, the city’s waters are filthy. But they say the areas where athletes will compete — like the waters off Copacabana Beach, where swimmers will race — meet World Health Organization safety standards.

政府官員和國際奧委會(International Olympic Committee)承認，該市的許多水體都很髒。但他們說，運動員比賽的地方——比如將舉辦游泳賽事的科帕卡巴納海灘周邊水域——達到了世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)的安全標準。

Even some venues with higher levels of human waste, like Guanabara Bay, present only minimal risk because athletes sailing or windsurfing in them will have limited contact with potential contamination, they add.

他們還說，即便是人體排泄物含量較高的場地，比如瓜納巴拉灣，對在那裏參加帆船和帆板賽事的運動員構成的威脅也微乎其微，因爲他們和潛在污染物的接觸十分有限。

Still, Olympic officials concede that their efforts have not addressed a fundamental problem: Much of the sewage and trash produced by the region’s 12 million inhabitants continues to flow untreated into Rio’s waters.

不過，奧林匹克官員們承認，他們的努力並未讓一個根本的問題得到解決：該地區1200萬居民製造的污水和垃圾，有很大一部分繼續在未經處理的情況下被排入里約的水域。

“Our biggest plague, our biggest environmental problem, is basic sanitation,” said Andrea Correa, the top environmental official in the state of Rio de Janeiro. “The Olympics has woken people up to the problem.”

“我們最大的禍端，我們最大的環境問題，在於基本的環境衛生，”里約州最高級別的環境官員安德烈•科雷亞(Andrea Correa)說。“奧運會讓人們意識到了這個問題。”

Foreign athletes preparing for the games have long expressed concern that waterborne illnesses could thwart their Olympic dreams. An investigation by The Associated Press last year recorded disease-causing viruses in some tests that were 1.7 million times the level of what would be considered hazardous on a Southern California beach.

正爲賽事做準備的外國運動員一直擔心，介水性傳染病會讓他們的奧運夢化爲泡影。美聯社(The Associated Press)去年公佈的一份調查報告稱，經檢測，某些水體中的致病細菌含量嚴重超標，是美國南加州海岸警戒標準的170萬倍。

“We just have to keep our mouths closed when the water sprays up,” said Afrodite Zegers, 24, a member of the Dutch sailing team, which has been practicing in Guanabara Bay.

“水涌過來的時候，我們必須閉上嘴，”現年24歲的荷蘭帆船隊隊員阿弗羅迪特•席格斯(Afrodite Zegers)說。該帆船隊目前正在瓜納巴拉灣訓練。

Some athletes here for the games and other competitions have been felled by gastrointestinal illness, including members of the Spanish and Austrian sailing teams. During a surfing competition here last year, about a quarter of the participants were sidelined by nausea and diarrhea, organizers said.

來這裏參加奧運會和其他賽事的一些運動員，已經患上了胃腸道疾病，其中包括西班牙帆船隊和奧地利帆船隊的成員。去年在這裏舉辦的一場衝浪比賽的組織者說，比賽期間，約有四分之一的參賽者因腹瀉和嘔吐而退賽。

Officials have been grappling with a welter of challenges as they scramble for the opening ceremony on Aug. 5. The Zika virus epidemic has dampened foreign ticket sales, crime is soaring, and the federal government has been paralyzed by the impeachment proceedings against Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff.

在爭分奪秒地爲8月5日的開幕式做準備的過程中，官員們奮力應對着各種挑戰。茲卡病毒疫情拖累了門票在國外的銷售；犯罪率急劇上升；另外，聯邦政府在彈劾巴西總統迪爾瑪•羅塞夫(Dilma Rousseff)的程序啓動後已經處於癱瘓狀態。

Last month, the acting governor of Rio de Janeiro, Francisco Dornelles, declared a state of emergency, claiming that a lack of money threatened “a total collapse in public security, health, education, transport and environmental management.”

上個月，里約州代理州長弗朗西斯科•多內列斯(Francisco Dornelles)宣佈該州進入緊急狀態。他說資金不足有可能讓“公共安全、醫療、教育、交通和環境管理全面崩潰”。

Still, Olympic organizers say the sports venues are nearly complete, and the federal government has provided emergency funds to the state. Many athletes expect the games will proceed without serious complications.

不過，奧運組織者稱，體育場館幾近完工，而且聯邦政府已經爲該州提供了應急基金。很多運動員都預計，奧運會的舉辦不會受到太大影響。

The city’s contaminated waterways, however, are another matter.

但該市受到污染的水域是另一回事。

“It’s disgusting,” said Nigel Cochrane, a coach for the Spanish women’s sailing team. “We’re very concerned.”

“讓人直犯惡心，”西班牙女子帆船隊的教練奈傑爾•科克倫(Nigel Cochrane)說。“我們非常擔心。”

For many, the sewage crisis is emblematic of the corruption and mismanagement that have long hobbled Latin America’s largest country.

在一些人看來，污水危機折射出了多年來一直深深困擾着巴西這個拉丁美洲第一大國的腐敗和管理不善。

Since the 1990s, Rio officials claim to have spent billions of dollars on sewage treatment systems, but few are functioning.

里約的官員宣稱，自從上世紀90年代以來，已經把數十億美元資金投向了污水治理系統。但那些系統基本沒在發揮作用。

In its 2009 bid for the games, Brazil pledged to spend $4 billion to clean up 80 percent of the sewage that flows untreated into the bay. In the end, the state government spent just $170 million, citing a budget crisis, officials said.

在2009年申辦奧運會期間，巴西承諾投入40億美元資金，對80%的未經處理便被排入瓜納巴拉灣的污水進行淨化。但官員稱，里約州政府以預算危機爲由，最終只投入了1.7億美元。

Most of the money in the state’s sanitation budget has been spent on trash-collecting boats and portable berms to stop the sludge and debris that flow into the bay.

該州的環衛預算大多被花在了垃圾收集船和可移動式護堤上，爲的是防止污泥和垃圾進入瓜納巴拉灣。

Critics say they are cosmetic measures.

批評人士說，這些措施治標不治本。

“They can try to block big items like sofas and dead bodies, but these rivers are pure sludge, so the bacteria and viruses are going to just pass through,” said Stelberto Soares, a municipal engineer who has spent three decades addressing the city’s sanitation crisis.

“它們可以攔住比較大的東西，比如沙發和死屍，但河水本身含有大量污泥，因此細菌和病毒暢行無阻，”花了30年時間來處理該市環衛危機的市政工程師斯泰爾伯託•蘇亞雷斯(Stelberto Soares)說。

Soares said he laughed when he heard officials promise to tackle the sewage problem before the games.

蘇亞雷斯說，聽到官員們承諾要在奧運會開幕前解決污水問題時，他不禁笑了起來。

An earlier, multibillion-dollar effort financed by international donors yielded a network of 35 sewage treatment facilities, 500 miles of conduits and 85 pumps, he said. When he last checked, only three of the pumps and two of those treatment plants were still working; the rest had been abandoned and mostly vandalized, he said.

他說，早前，在國際捐助者的資助下，一個耗資數十億美元，由35處污水處理設施、500英里長的管道和85臺水泵構成的網絡被建了起來。但他在最近一次瞭解情況時發現，只有三臺水泵和兩座污水處理廠還在運轉，其餘的都已經被廢棄了，而且大多遭到了破壞，他說。

Asked what had happened, he threw up his hands. “In Brazil, they say sanitation doesn’t get votes.”

我問發生了什麼事，他舉起雙手：“在巴西，他們說衛生不能帶來選票。”

Romario Monteiro, 45, a second-generation fisherman who has spent a lifetime plying Guanabara Bay, recalls when the waters were crystalline and the fish were plentiful.

現年45歲的第二代漁民羅馬裏奧•蒙泰羅(Romario Monteiro)在瓜納巴拉灣打了一輩子的魚。他很懷念那個水質清澈、魚也很多的年代。

Now his net often yields more trash than fish, including television sets, dead dogs and the occasional dolphin killed by ingesting plastic bags.

如今，他一網下去，打上來的垃圾常常比魚還多，包括電視機、死狗，偶爾還有因爲吃下塑料袋而死掉的海豚。

“It’s disgusting,” Monteiro said.

“很噁心，”蒙泰羅說。

As he pulled out from the harbor near his home on Governador Island, he pointed to a half-dozen pipes, exposed at low tide, belching out human waste from the island’s 300,000 residents.

蒙泰羅住在戈韋納多島(Governador Island)，駕船駛離家附近的港口時，他指給我看把島上30萬名居民的排泄物送進水中的那些管子，它們在退潮之際現出了真身。

“When you open up the fish, their innards are black with oil and muck,” he said. “But we clean them with soap and eat them anyway.”

“把魚剖開後，會看到被油和污物弄得黑黢黢的內臟，”他說。“但我們會用肥皂把魚洗一下，照吃不誤。”