The tenders of the 10 km male and female in open waters of the 2025 swimming World Cup In Singapore they took place today after being postponed one day from World Aquatics (the International Swimming Federation) due to the bad quality of the water on the island of Sentosa where the races should have taken place. The competitions were in fact initially scheduled for yesterday 15 July, but they took place this morning after the water samples taken returned to a level “excellent“.
The limits of Escherichia coli established by World Aquatics for the swimming World Cup
The postponement of the two races (the male and female 10 km) was communicated to the athletes a few hours after the race: how is it possible that the quality of the water is worse So quickly, overcoming the established limits? The data, in reality, were not made public, but the overcoming of the security limits mainly concerned the concentration of Escherichia colia bacterium that is naturally found in the intestine of mammals and which causes prohibitions of bathing as it can cause gastrointestinal symptoms.
To be clear, it is the same problem that took place in 2024 to Paris Olympicsin the swimming races that took place in the senna rendering bathing for the occasion. Triathlon races were postponed precisely for the high concentrations of Escherichia coli Due to the strong rains that caused spinning waste water spinning in the river that crosses the French capital.
According to some rumors, the values of E. coli In the waters of Sentosa they would have been beyond four times higher than the limits allowedperhaps because of one abusive spinning by some ships.
What are these limits? There World Aquatics It establishes – on the basis of the recommendations produced by the WHO – that in the event that the races take place in open waters (such as the ocean) in order to compete the concentrations of E. coli should not exceed 250 units of formation of colonies (CFU) per 100 millimeters of water. In addition, the concentrations of Enterococchi they cannot exceed 100 CFU/100 ml), the algal flowering and the pH water must be between 6 and 9.
How the verification of the quality of the water works: the values of the World Aquatics
The World Aquatics first establishes the timing within which the waters must be analyzed. In particular, the organizers of the races are obliged to collect samples:
- 2 months before of the competition;
- 7 days before of the competition;
- 48 hours before of the competition;
- The same day of the competition.
Among other things, these water samples must be collected by 3 different points of the route and analyzed at an authorized laboratory: at that point, the more “poor” result It will be the one taken into consideration to determine the overall quality of the water and will be compared with the pre -established limits.
In an official press release, World Aquatics then confirmed that, following further checks, the quality of the waters had passed from “Good“(Between 250 and 500 CFU/100 ml for E. coli and between 100 and 200 CFU/100 ml for Enterocchi) to “excellent”(Less than 250 CFU/100 ml for E. coli and below 100 CFU/100 ml for Enterococchi).
What influences the quality of the water
In general, there are many factors which affect the microbiological risk and on the pollution of bathing water. Among these are also the weather conditions: on the one hand, the intense rains they can overflow the sewers, thus making the waste water in the rivers and, consequently, at sea; on the other, however, the ultraviolet rays of the sun can degrade the bacteria, while the high temperatures they can favor their death.
Incidentally, the temperature is also an important variable: the races cannot in fact be carried out if the water exceeds 31 ° C. Sentosa water yesterday, with 30.5 ° Cwas just under this limit.
For the swimming World Cup in Singapore, however, the authorities have not made public details of the measurements: the poor bathing could be due to the intense naval traffic in the Strait of Singapore (also given the hypothesis of an illegal spinning by a boat) or to any absence of currents in the last few days, which would have prevented the water from flowing regularly, favoring the stagnation and development of microorganisms.
