The beach ban adds to increasing fears that a promised cleanup of water pollution will not be ready in time for the 2016 Olympics

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A sewage-filled Rio de Janeiro beach has been removed from the list of venues for a surfing competition in the city in May, the World Surf League said on Wednesday.

A spokesman, Dave Prodan, said São Conrado beach had to be removed as a competition site “due to pollution issues”.

São Conrado had been a backup for the Rio Pro event scheduled for 11 to 22 May, to be used in case of sub-par waves or other problems at the primary venue, nearby Barra da Tijuca beach.

Wedged between the high-rent Barra da Tijuca and Leblon neighbourhoods and two hillside slums, São Conrado is one of Rio’s most polluted beaches. Much of the sewage from the slums flows untreated directly into the water. A ruptured sewage main has added to the problem in recent days, unleashing a smelly fountain of untreated waste that is cascading down a rocky outcropping and into the water, creating a huge brown stain.

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The result of spotty infrastructure and chaotic urban planning stretching back decades, Rio’s water pollution is in the spotlight ahead of next year’s Olympics.

An extensive cleanup of Rio’s beaches, lakes, lagoons and its big Guanabara Bay – sites where Olympic aquatic events from sailing to rowing to open-water swimming will be held – was marketed as one of the main legacies of the games. But with little progress on the promised cleanup, and with local and state authorities acknowledging the Olympic goals will not be met, athletes have begun to voice health and safety concerns about competing in the polluted waters.

In its statement, the World Surf League said it was confident Barra da Tijuca beach “will deliver excellent conditions” as the primary site for next month’s surfing event.

However, a biologist and environmentalist, Mario Moscatelli, who has been denouncing the state of Rio’s waterways for decades, said water quality during the surfing competition was likely to depend on wind and tides.

Barra da Tijuca is near the spot where the sewage- and trash-filled Jacarepagua lagoon flows into the Atlantic. When the tide is low, wind can spread the brown patch of contaminated water to Barra da Tijuca.

“You could have a situation where most of the beach is awash in this putrid water,” Moscatelli warned.