Environmental and Sanitary Conditions of Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Guanabara Bay is the second largest bay in the coast of Brazil, with an area of 384 km2. In its surroundings live circa 16 million inhabitants, out of which 6 million live in Rio de Janeiro city, one of the largest cities of the country, and the host of the 2016 Olympic Games. Anthropogenic interference in Guanabara Bay area started early in the XVI century, but environmental impacts escalated from 1930, when this region underwent an industrialization process. Herein we present an overview of the current environmental and sanitary conditions of Guanabara Bay, a consequence of all these decades of impacts. We will focus on microbial communities, how they may affect higher trophic levels of the aquatic community and also human health. The anthropogenic impacts in the bay are flagged by heavy eutrophication and by the emergence of pathogenic microorganisms that are either carried by domestic and/or hospital waste (e.g., virus, KPC-producing bacteria, and fecal coliforms), or that proliferate in such conditions (e.g., vibrios). Antibiotic resistance genes are commonly found in metagenomes of Guanabara Bay planktonic microorganisms. Furthermore, eutrophication results in recurrent algal blooms, with signs of a shift toward flagellated, mixotrophic groups, including several potentially harmful species. A recent large-scale fish kill episode, and a long trend decrease in fish stocks also reflects the bay’s degraded water quality. Although pollution of Guanabara Bay is not a recent problem, the hosting of the 2016 Olympic Games propelled the government to launch a series of plans to restore the bay’s water quality. If all plans are fully implemented, the restoration of Guanabara Bay and its shores may be one of the best legacies of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

High prevalence of enteric viruses associated with acute gastroenteritis in pediatric patients in a low‐income area in Vitória, Southeastern Brazil

“…A previous study evaluating the microbiological quality of water and mussel samples from Vitória Bay revealed the presence of RVA, NoV, and HAdV in these two matrices throughout the entire monitoring period . The continuous disposal of sewage into the bay decreases water quality, causing serious impacts on the environment, especially to the mangrove and the surrounding human population . The questionnaire and interview carried out with the legal guardians of children enrolled in the study addressing daily habits showed that most children ate at home, did not have a food intolerance, and did not have prior contact with people with diarrhea (76.9%; 103/134).…”

“…34 The continuous disposal of sewage into the bay decreases water quality, causing serious impacts on the environment, especially to the mangrove and the surrounding human population. 35 The questionnaire and interview carried out with the legal guardians of children enrolled in the study addressing daily habits showed that most children ate at home, did not have a food intolerance, and did not have prior contact with people with diarrhea (76.9%; 103/134). It is presumed, therefore, that children may have been contaminated by contact with their parents, ingestion of contaminated water during recreational activities, or consumption of contaminated food, such as oysters and mussels collected in the mangrove surrounding the community.…”

Distribution and Classification of Serine β-Lactamases in Brazilian Hospital Sewage and Other Environmental Metagenomes Deposited in Public Databases

“…The high abundance of KPC in NZ hospital sewage sample suggests a potential source of transmission of carbapenemases to others environmental bacteria, including the human gut. The presence of KPC was also reported in Guanabara Bay and Flamengo Beach, in Rio, close to where some sports as sailing are practiced, including Olympic competitions of 2016 (Fistarol et al, 2015; Montezzi et al, 2015). Other ESBLs families as PER, VEB, and GES are not commonly described, just in France and Turkey (PER) (Vahaboglu et al, 1995; De Champs et al, 2002) France and South Africa (GES) (Dubois et al, 2002; Nordmann and Poirel, 2002), and Thailand, France, Kuwait, India, and China (VEB) (Girlich et al, 2001; Aubert et al, 2004; Jiang et al, 2005; Naas et al, 2006).…”

Northeast Guanabara Bay and Coastal Plain Holocene Sedimentary Evolution (Brazil): A Contribution

“…This setting shows that the bay acts as a sink, especially for fine sediment particles. Nowadays, considering the alarming environmental quality of Guanabara Bay Fonseca et al, 2013;Abuchacra et al, 2015;Cordeiro et al, 2015;Fistarol et al, 2015;Abreu et al, 2016;Aguiar et al, 2016;Carvalho and Baptista Neto, 2016;Silva et al, 2016;Soares-Gomes et al, 2016), we assume that the bay acts as a sink not only for sediments but also for pollutants.…”

“…Amador (1997Amador ( , 2012 suggested that Guanabara Bay doubled in size during the Maximum Holocene Transgression (Angulo et al, 2006) and showed that it was drastically altered by post-colonial human induced activities. Guanabara Bay is surrounded by the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro and is considered a highly impacted environment, particularly in view of industrial activities, urban and agricultural runoff, trace metals, sewage discharge, anthropogenic debris, dredging, coastal interventions and landfills Fonseca et al, 2013;Abuchacra et al, 2015;Cordeiro et al, 2015;Fistarol et al, 2015;Aguiar et al, 2016;Carvalho and Baptista Neto, 2016;Silva et al, 2016;Soares-Gomes et al, 2016).…”