Is the water of the Seine clean enough for Olympic swimming competitions? The Paris Olympic chief and the mayor put this to the test by jumping into the river.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, went swimming in the Seine. She wants to show that the river is clean enough for the open water swimming competitions planned there during the Olympic Games. Not far from the town hall, the mayor got into the Seine together with the Parisian head of organization of the games, Tony Estanguet. The two tested the quality of the water by swimming and doing crawls in the best summer weather. Many onlookers and media watched the swim, which was also attended by the prefect of the capital region Île-de-France, Marc Guillaume. The Olympic Games will open on July 26th.
For a long time, there was debate in Paris about whether the quality of the water was really good enough for Olympic swimmers to dive into for their open water competitions. In recent years, 1.4 billion euros were invested in sewage treatment plants and the sewage system in the greater Paris area to improve the water quality. One of the measures now being taken is to prevent toilet wastewater from entering the river along with the water masses during heavy rain.
No more doubts about the planned holding of the competitions
The city explained that the water quality left much to be desired after the controls in recent months because of the unusually damp weather and low temperatures. This is because pathogens are broken down more quickly in higher temperatures and a lower water level in the Seine. In summer temperatures, the water quality has recently improved considerably and only in isolated cases were there measurements that were not within the limit. “We have no doubt that we will be able to hold the competitions on the scheduled date,” said Pierre Rabadan, the deputy mayor of Paris responsible for the Olympic Games, a few days ago.
Source: Stern
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