By the time the world’s two biggest hockey leagues meet next month in Pittsburgh, the IOC and the International Olympic Committee will be scrambling to decide what to do about the planned $6.5 billion sewage system that will be installed by 2024 in the Olympic Village.
The system is to be run by a consortium of private developers, with the IOC controlling the bulk of the financing.
It has been a controversial proposal since it was first announced by the IOC in 2008, when it promised to fund the project with public money.
A consortium led by the French construction company Areva, which is also building the proposed $6 billion Olympic stadium in Rio de Janeiro, has said the city will pay up to 50 percent of the cost of the sewage system.
As part of the plan, the construction companies will build the sewers from the Olympic village to the Olympic Stadium.
The sewage will then be pumped out of the stadium into the Olympic River and then to a septic system that could be used to recycle the wastewater.
The IOC, which owns the Olympic Games, says the sewage would be used in Olympic-style water purification facilities, including a public swimming pool, for use at the games.
The Olympic Committee has also said that the sewage will be piped directly into the sewerage system of the city’s municipal water supply.
It is unclear how many sewage pipes will be needed to fill the Olympic stadium, which will host four-day Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The original design for the stadium, approved by the Brazilian Congress in 2003, called for a capacity of 25,000 to 30,000 people.
“This proposal will make Rio a new Olympic city,” IOC president Thomas Bach said last week in announcing the plan.
“We will provide all necessary facilities, infrastructure and personnel to help this project get off the ground.”
The stadium would be designed to accommodate around 3,000 Olympic and World Cup participants, and it would be built along a river near the Olympic Park.
The construction of the new stadium would cost $2.2 billion.
