As of: February 13, 2024, 5:11 p.m
By: Christoph Klaucke
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The Seine should be clean again by the 2024 Olympics.
But despite massive investment, the question remains: Will the water be clean enough in time for the Paris Games?
Paris – “We will swim in the Seine in July,” said Anne Hidalgo at the beginning of the year.
The Paris mayor is determined to hold competitions in the French capital's river during the 2024 Olympics this summer.
The problem is that the water in the Seine has been polluted for years by sewage and sewage.
Olympics on the Seine?
Paris is fighting against polluted water
Hidalgo plans to swim right on the riverbank near the town hall and has also invited President Emmanuel Macron, who is often photographed by the tabloids in swimming trunks in the summer.
“If he likes, he is very welcome,” emphasized Hidalgo.
He has not yet announced whether Macron is ready to jump into the Paris river, which has long been heavily polluted.
Hidalgo's main goal is to get the river clear enough to host some of the competitions by the summer Olympics.
It currently looks as if this project could succeed.
However, a severe storm shortly before the triathlon or the open water swimming, both of which are scheduled to start at the magnificent Pont d'Alexandre bridge, could prevent this.
The Seine in Paris is supposed to be the venue for the Olympic Games.
© Kyodo/dpa
Swimming in the Seine in Paris has been banned for over 100 years
Swimming in the Seine has been banned in Paris since 1923.
The reasons given were pollution and the dangers posed by shipping traffic.
When the Olympic Games took place again in the French capital in 1924, a modern 50-meter pool was built in the north of the city.
It was the then mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac, who brought swimming in the Seine back into the conversation in 1988.
“I’ll bring towels and antibiotics,” commented the then Environment Minister matter-of-factly.
However, the plan was not implemented in Chirac's time.
Paris is fighting dirty sewage and overloaded sewers
It was only Hidalgo who resumed the plan in 2016 and made the Seine the central point of Paris' Olympic bid.
Not only will the swimmers use the river, the Seine will also serve as the setting for a spectacular opening ceremony.
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Since then, the state has invested around 1.4 billion euros to clean the river.
There are two main problems in focus: On the one hand, around 30,000 households upstream discharge their wastewater directly into the Marne or the Seine.
On the other hand, the Paris sewer system cannot handle large amounts of rain, which means that wastewater is washed into the river several times a year.
Preparations for a clean Seine in Paris are in full swing
To encourage homeowners to properly connect their sewer lines, teams went door-to-door in affected areas.
There was government support for the renovation.
Houseboat residents were also asked to stop dumping their wastewater into the Seine, which has been banned for years but has not always been adhered to.
In order to relieve the pressure on the sewer system, a huge overflow basin was built near the Austerlitz train station, which can hold 50,000 cubic meters.
It is scheduled to be completed this spring.
Clean Seine as a legacy of the 2024 Olympics
Last summer, when there was a raid in Paris due to alleged corruption, several test competitions in the Seine had to be canceled because the water samples were still questionable.
In the Bassin de La Villette in Paris, which is fed by a canal, an outdoor swimming pool has been set up in summer for several years.
Similar pools will also be built on the Seine in the coming years.
If the plan succeeds, the cleaned river would likely be the most significant legacy of the 2024 Summer Games for many Parisians - especially given the increasing heatwaves.
(ck/dpa)
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