2024 Olympics: enhanced surveillance of the Seine with dedicated teams

After the pollution of the Seine caused at the end of August by the malfunction of a valve of the Parisian sewerage network, the river will be monitored even more closely, including its sanitation networks but also the connections of boats and barges, said the mayor of Paris and the prefecture of Ile-de-France (Prif) Tuesday in a statement.

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This pollution had prevented the holding of pre-Olympic triathlon test events in August. "The conduct of the events highlighted the need to strengthen monitoring, control and alert systems to limit any risk of unexpected discharge into the Seine in dry weather," they wrote at the end of a meeting on the summer pre-Olympic test events. The valve of the Tolbiac water treatment plant was "damaged during thunderstorms" and "became leaky," confirmed the incident report conducted by the services of the city of Paris.

Vigilance

Ten months before the Olympics and to prevent this type of incident, the authorities (State, town hall, Prif, departments of Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, France waterways, Haropa Port, etc.) have decided to "strengthen the surveillance of sewerage networks in Paris and upstream" ("storm overflows", "outlets of the Siapp factories (Ile-de-France sanitation)", "emergency pumping facilities").

But also to look at other potential sources of pollution, "by mobilizing the actors present on the river and in the immediate vicinity", such as boat connections or "evacuation systems of establishments receiving the public along the Seine" and "sanitary facilities at the edge of the quay". Teams dedicated to monitoring and likely to intervene in the event of pollution releases will also be set up.

The organizers of the Paris Olympics faced serious disappointments this summer during these test events. Before the cancellation of the two triathlon events (para and mixed), it was the open water swimming events that had to be cancelled due to pollution caused by an unusual summer rain event. These competitions in the Seine are preludes to the future swimming promised for 2025 by the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (PS), on three sites, while swimming has been banned since 1923.