SuggestedLeadIn: Brazilian rowers use drag net to help clean Olympic rowing venue

Script: The Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, one of the venues that is set to host rowing and canoeing at 2016 Olympics, has been in the spotlight after a report by The Associated Press last month showed dangerously high levels of viruses at all Rio Olympic water venues.

With that in mind, Unisuam university and Brazilian football giants Vasco da Gama teamed up on a project to help mitigate the pollution onsite.

Civil Engineering students helped built a small boat to work as a drag machine for the athletes. The equipment has a trawl net to catch all waste on the surface of the lagoon.

Project mentor, professor Geraldo Pinheiro, says that it is of mutual benefit for the athletes and the venue.

[SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Geraldo Pinheiro, Unisuam university professor]

"Lagoa will get cleaned up. The rowers will be using the dragging equipment which will help clean the water. So during their practice sessions, they're not only training but also actively cleaning up Lagoa."

Vinicius Vieira, Vasco da Gama junior rower, is very pleased with the new system.

[SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Vinicius Vieira, Vasco da Gama junior rower]

"It will help develop our rowing skills, but it's also going to help to clean the water. We can collect the stuff like plastic bags. All the rubbish that gets in our way, or gets stuck to the boat. It can capsize us. Sometimes people throw bags full of garbage into Lagoa and it's just really tedious."

Rio has a lot of cleaning up to do before the games start on the 5th of August next year.