Canada's sailing team will be packing economy-size bottles of hand sanitizer to this summer's Rio Olympics.

Sail Canada's executive director Paddy Boyd said the athletes will take every precaution to guard against getting sick from the polluted waters of Guanabara Bay, into which massive amounts of the city's untreated sewage flows.

The dirty water in Rio has been a hot-button topic, and The Associated Press reported Wednesday that tests showed the city's Olympic waterways are rife with pathogens both offshore and near land.

"I think 'worried' would be too strong a word," Boyd said from his Ottawa office. "We've taken part in the test events in Rio for the last three years, so we had a full team down there in the test events. There's nothing we can do at Sail Canada that's going to change the event or move the venue or anything like that.

"Our view essentially is that we're going to take part in the Olympics, and we have to take the appropriate precautions in regard to pollution. We're comfortable that once we put the precautions in place, take the appropriate preparation, brief our athletes and look after our athletes in the appropriate way, that it's not going to be an issue for Canadian sailors at the Games."

Precautions include dousing oneself in hand sanitizer from head to toe, rinsing off with freshwater after coming ashore, making sure there are no open wounds, applying barrier cream and ensuring the boat and any other equipment is rinsed down and sanitized.

"So any potential for any lingering bugs are removed to the best of your ability," Boyd said. "All your gear, all your clothing, yourself, your boat, etc., are constantly being cleaned, so you're limiting any potential for infection."

German sailor Erik Heil was treated in a Berlin hospital for MRSA, a flesh-eating bacteria, after competing in an Olympic test event in Rio. The Associated Press has been conducting its own water analysis, and in July found disease-causing viruses directly linked to human sewage at levels up to 1.7 million times what would be considered extremely alarming in the U.S. or Europe.

AP's most recent round of tests showed no improvement.

Boyd said no Canadians fell ill at the test events — at least from the water. One athlete came down with a stomach bug.

"The biggest danger we're finding is where you eat rather than where you sail. A lot of the teams are finding that," he said. "We do things like we restrict the restaurants, the food outlets that we use quite severely during competition."

At a rowing test event last summer, 13 athletes on the U.S. team came down with a stomach illness. The American team doctor said she suspected it was due to pollution in the lake.

Cringe-worthy photos show the Rio water littered with debris, from television sets, to lawn furniture, toys and even a dead cat.

"Because of the relatively reduced level of control of what goes into the water, there are issues . . . where you might collide with something under the water. And that could have a serious impact on your competition, it could damage your boat, it could stop you in the midst of your race, etc.," Boyd said. "So there's that as well. But we believe the Brazilians are putting in, and we've seen it, they're putting in quite a lot of effort to try to ensure that doesn't happen."

He added that, come competition time, boats — the Canadian sailing staff call them "Zambonis on water" — will essentially sweep the water.

Boyd said most of the Canadian team has been to Rio four or five times in preparation for the Games. The team will likely make one more familiarization trip before the Games open Aug. 5.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2015