World open water races in Singapore back on after water quality delays

Singapure, 16 July - Open water races at the world swimming championships in Singapore will take place Wednesday after being postponed twice due to poor water quality, governing body World Aquatics said.

The women's 10km race had already been pushed back a day to Wednesday morning, but organisers said it would now take place on Wednesday afternoon.

The men's 10km race was also postponed from its original Wednesday morning slot to Wednesday afternoon.

World Aquatics said tests of the water at the Sentosa Island course found that quality levels had improved but were still "exceeding acceptable thresholds".

The governing body initially said the new time slots for the races were "subject to acceptable test results".

They later confirmed both races would proceed after further analysis of samples on Wednesday morning found "significant improvement".

"Regular water quality monitoring and testing continues throughout the competition period to ensure athlete safety, with the health and safety of all participants continuing to guide all competition-related decisions," World Aquatics said in a statement.

The governing body said levels of E. coli fell between the ranges of "good" and "excellent", according to World Aquatics and World Health Organization regulations.

Water quality was an issue for events held in the River Seine at last year's Paris Olympics.

Of 11 days of events and training scheduled in its murky waters, only five got the green light.

The river remained dogged by pollution problems despite a 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) upgrade to improve the Paris sewerage and water treatment system.BSS