Adorned with an opaque and brown hue for several days, the color of the Seine is cause for concern less than five months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Seeing the images of the Parisian river, it is difficult to imagine the swimmers (and the politicians!) in the waters of the capital's river.
Despite the cancellation of a test race last August, the triathlon and open water swimming events must still be held there.
Fueled by recent rainfall, the river level has also increased to the point of flooding certain banks.
This phenomenon has
sparked numerous reactions from Internet users on
the
social
network
“Is it normal that the Seine looks like Liebig soup?”,
quips another.
A brown color which would be due to the heavy rains, but more worryingly, it could also be the consequence of the overflow of part of the sewers, overloaded by the precipitation.
To this must be added the approximately 200 tonnes of waste collected each year from the river.
Measuring bacteria, a real indicator
Julia Moutiez, researcher at the CNRS laboratory at CRH-Lavue, however, provides a small reason for hope.
In an interview published in
Le Parisien
, she states that
“the quality of the water and its color are two distinct things,”
according to her.
The brown color of the Seine would therefore not necessarily make it excessively polluted water.
Measuring bacteria from colorless feces would be the most reliable indicator.
Concern about the color of the Seine does not seem to frighten Emmanuel Macron, who recently reiterated his commitment to swimming there.
The sanitation project called the
“Water Quality and Bathing Plan”
which cost nearly a billion and a half euros, half of which at the sole expense of the State, is supposed to be finalized by 2025. Faced with ambient skepticism, Anne Hidalgo also reiterated her confidence in the sanitation project during her wishes for 2024:
“we will swim in the Seine,”
she confirmed.