He Seine River, which is to host the Olympic triathlon and open water events, is not suitable for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Paris City Council and the regional prefecture announced on Friday.
The emblematic river that runs through the French capital must be one of the great protagonists of the sporting event, as imposing the scene of the opening ceremony on July 26 and triathlon and open water swimming events.
However, the results of the river water quality analyzes published this Friday, with data from June 17 to 23, reveal a significant increase in the concentration of fecal bacteria compared to the previous two weeks due to “an unfavorable hydrological context.”
The rainfall recorded in the city during the last few weeks has had great hydrological consequences. Likewise, an excessive flow of water was recorded. This scenario is not only dangerous for swimmers, but also puts the nautical parade planned for the opening ceremony in trouble, since it increases the speed of the boats in which the delegations will travel and will disrupt the timing of a millimeter show.
“Water quality remains degraded due to an unfavourable hydrological context: rain, high flow, little sunlight, temperatures below normal for this time of year and pollution upstream,” the city council said.
The president of Games Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguethad already anticipated the results of the analysis and indicated that they should Wait until mid-July to have a more precise result.
Concentration of bacteria in the Seine River
The concentration of ‘Escherichia coli’ and enterococci must not exceed respectively 1,000 and 400 units per ml of water for bathing to be authorized. At the beginning of the week analyzed, a peak of 13,000 units of ‘Escherichia coli’ per ml. Although dropped to between 2,000 and 6,000 over the weekend.
As for the other bacteria, whose values must be between 100 and 500 CFU/100 ml, they far exceeded the barrier of 1,000, and even 2,000 at times.
The problem is not only bacteriological, but also one of flow, since this reached six times higher than usual, with a peak of 666 cubic meters per second on Sunday, July 23. The normal rate during this period is between 100 and 150 cubic meters. For this reason the opening ceremony rehearsal had to be postponed scheduled for Monday.
The climate outlook does not seem to be improving: The French meteorological agency predicts new episodes of rain for the first week of July. The organizers want to remain “confident” that everything will be resolved before the start of the sporting event.
Source: Ambito
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