Rio official visits filthy lagoon near Olympic Park in bid to restart project to clean water

Boats carrying Biologist Mario Moscatelli, Rio's state environment secretary Andre Correa and journalists navigate on the Jacarepagua Lagoon complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015. Rio de Janeiro’s top environmental official has visited the trash-and raw sewage-filled lagoon system that hugs the site of the city’s future Olympic park. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) (The Associated Press)

Biologist Mario Moscatelli, left and Rio's state environment secretary Andre Correa pull a garbage container out of the Jacarepagua Lagoon complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015. Rio de Janeiro’s top environmental official has visited the trash-and raw sewage-filled lagoon system that hugs the site of the city’s future Olympic park. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana) (The Associated Press)

RIO DE JANEIRO – Rio de Janeiro's top environmental official says he hopes to restart cleanup work on the trash- and sewage-filled lagoon system that hugs the site of the city's future Olympic Park.

Andre Correa made the comments Tuesday while on a boat ride through the fetid waters of the Jacarepagua lagoon, which stinks of rotting waste.

Cleanup of the lagoon has been touted as one of the long-term benefits Rio will gain from hosting the Olympics next year. But work on the $250 million project has been stalled for seven months due to a conflict with the public prosecutor's office.

With the start of the games just 18 months away, improving the site's drainage system is seen as crucial to boosting the quality of the water.