Paris Allowing Swimming in River Seine After 100-year Closure
The city of Paris is reintroducing the opportunity for its residents to swim in the Seine River after a century-long hiatus. This initiative comes as part of the city’s broader efforts to rejuvenate the river’s ecosystem and ensure its suitability for activities like the 2024 Summer Olympic Games and other swimming competitions.
Paris has been diligently working to clean the river’s waters since 2018, aiming to make it safe for use in the upcoming Summer Olympics. The river was previously used for swimming competitions during the 1900 Olympics held in Paris, but concerns about pollution led to a ban on recreational swimming in 1926.
On July 25, the Olympic Torch was unveiled along the Seine’s banks, marking a year until the games’ commencement. This weekend, the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup 2023 was scheduled to take place in the river, but due to rainfall affecting water quality below acceptable standards, the women’s race initially set for August 5 had to be rescheduled for August 6. A planned training session for Olympic swimmers was also canceled due to the rain.
The city of Paris views the re-opening of the Seine for swimming as a return to a traditional Parisian practice. Public swimming in the Seine will be possible from 2025 at three designated locations: Bras Marie, Bras Grenelle, and Bercy, specifically at the Simone de Beauvoir footbridge.
Recent water quality assessments performed in early June yielded excellent results that aligned with European regulations. Testing standards for sites hosting Olympic swimming events reached 91 percent compliance during the summer of 2022.
The extensive cleanup efforts for the Seine are estimated to cost 1.4 billion euros, according to information available on the city’s official website. The objective of this endeavor goes beyond merely enabling swimming and instead aims to transform the Seine into a genuine ecological corridor, especially in the context of global warming.
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.
