Apparently, the Seine will be clean and swimming for the 2024 Summer Olympics, ready to host the competitions in its iconic landscape. From 2025 the city hopes to open permanent bathing facilities in five sites along the river: two in the city center, on the right bank in front of the Île de la Cité and Île Saint-Louis, one under the Eiffel Tower, one in the Bois de Boulogne park and another one in Bercy, southeast of Paris. During the same year, it is planned to extend the network of bathing points throughout the region, adding more than 23 swimming sites on the Seine and the Marne, its main tributary.
The city of Paris had banned swimming in the Seine in 1923, but some brave had continue to break the rules. At the end of the twentieth century no one dared to do so anymore, between high levels of bacteria and the risk of Leptospirosis. However, the 2022 tests had seen a marked improvement, and water was suitable for bathing in 91% of cases.
Paris is investing $1.54 billion to build a vast new storm drain with a capacity of about thirty Olympic swimming pools.
Foto di J Shim su Unsplash.