At the time of making its bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, organisers in Paris promised free public transportation, extension of Metro lines to accommodate the anticipated number of visitors and a pollution-free Seine River open to hosting events.
The Seine River has been clean enough to swim for most of the past 12 days, Paris city hall official Pierre Rabadan told broadcaster RFI on Friday. If the atmospheric conditions remain favourable, the river is all set to be the star of the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
The Paris region has seen an unseasonably heavy amount of precipitation lately, leading to a spike in Seine’s pollution levels as untreated sewage enters the body. Paris is forecast to see mostly dry conditions over the final 14 days before the start of the event.
Paris Mayor ready to “dive in next week”
Paris’ Seine River has been caught up in a bit of controversy. On June 23, the day that Mayor Anne Hidalgo and President Emmanuel Macron had initially planned to dive into the Seine, an online campaign encouraging Parisians to poop in the river started going viral.
“Robert”, the individual claiming to have created the site, told France 3 earlier that he is angry about “the millions and billions invested in the Olympic Games, and at the same time, all the public services left to decay, such as public transport or the unsanitary city.”
It is not clear if the people of Paris actually heeded Robert’s call to action. But Mayor Hidalgo told France Inter Radio on July 10 that she is ready to “dive in next week” and that the water would be “depolluted, that’s for sure.”
Concerning E. Coli bacteria levels in Seine River
French authorities have spent at least $1.55 billion to clean up the Seine. One of the key infrastructure projects designed to help tackle the problem has been the Austerlitz basin – capable of holding 20 Olympic swimming pools worth of water.
The rainwater storage basin is currently operational. But as recently as June 30, after rain the previous day, E. Coli bacterial levels increased to around 2000 CFU/100 ml at Alexandra III Bridge – the location for the planned triathlon events later this month.
If E. Coli levels are above 1000 CFU/100 ml, the swimming leg of the triathlon will have to be cancelled, unless the concerned medical committee decides the race can go ahead. The opening ceremony is set to take place on the Seine on July 26 if currents are not too strong.
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