Today’s technology can do some pretty amazing things. It recently let us get up close and personal with Jupiter and even let us create low-fat chocolate. But so far, today's technology is struggling with a new challenge—allowing athletes to safely play amid raw sewage.

Textile engineers at Philadelphia University announced last week that they have developed seamless, light-weight, antimicrobial suits for the US Olympic rowing team. In August, the team will wear the suits as they compete in the summer games in Rio de Janeiro, which is surrounded by water brimming with raw sewage, pollution, drug-resistant bacteria, virus loads up to 1.7 million times the level considered hazardous in the US, and a recent oil slick.

To protect athletes, the new suits contain two layers: one that wicks water away from the skin and another that contains a chemical-based antimicrobial finish. The design is aimed at preventing illnesses, such as the severe drug-resistant, flesh-eating infections German sailor Erik Heil suffered on his legs and hip after racing in a test event in Rio last year.

Sadly, the engineered athletic-ware may not be enough. First, it's not full body and allows some skin to still be exposed to the polluted water. And the antimicrobial layer may not be effective at killing intestinal viruses or at least killing them fast enough. On top of that, athletes are likely to inhale aerosolized germs kicked up in ocean spray. To avoid that, athletes would need face masks.

While the suits might not be foolproof, they are better than nothing. Analyses by the Associated Press and others have found startlingly high pollution and germ levels in Guanabara Bay, the site for Olympic sailing, as well as other Olympic sites including the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon and the waters off-shore. Brazilian authorities estimate that just half of the sewage and wastewater that drains into the bay is treated. Sailors, swimmers, and rowers face floating trash, dead fish, washed up human remains, and foul-smelling sewage as they compete.

Brazilian officials initially pledged to clean up the water before athletes arrived. However, they have since admitted that such a clean up will not happen in full.

After last year’s test runs in Rio, the World Rowing Federation reported that 6.7 percent of 567 rowers became ill after competing. That includes 13 of the 40-person US junior rowing team. More than seven percent of sailors became ill. To put those numbers in perspective, the US Environmental Protection Agency considers a 3.6 percent illness rate among water-goers the maximum acceptable amount.

In addition to the bacteria-busting duds, athletes will try to protect themselves by wearing full-body plastic suits, bleach-treating equipment, preemptively taking antibiotics, and rinsing with antimicrobial mouth wash right after being on the water. Some plan to arrive in Rio early to try to acclimate to the pollution levels, while others plan to get there right before competing and leave promptly afterward.

The International Olympic Committee has maintained that the water will be safe for athletes while also pushing back on other concerns for the Rio games, including the spread of Zika and surges in local crime.