To turn the foul Seine waterways into a swimming area, a massive €1.4 billion cleanup operation is in progress.
Some swimming competitions will take place on the waters of the Seine during the Summer Olympics in Paris the following year.
It is a crucial component of a comprehensive effort to clean up the river and make it swimmable.
Despite hosting swimming competitions at the 1900 Olympics, the Seine has been off-limits for bathing since 1923 due to dangers posed by boat traffic and water pollution.
For the Olympics and by 2025, the city intends to restore the river as a swimming area for the general public.
Is swimming in the Seine safe?
Although a stroll down the Seine’s banks could be charming, the river’s waters are now so poisonous that even fish struggle to live.
The river in Paris is not just a dump for trash and broken bikes, but it is also contaminated by untreated sewage.
Currently, the waterway’s primary use is for the boat transportation of products and people.
That’s about to change, though. In a few years, visitors to the city might find themselves swimming in the well-known waters. To turn the foul Seine waterways into a swimming area, a massive €1.4 billion cleanup operation is in progress.
The project has been dragging on for years, but the Olympics, which are drawing near, have sped up the work.
By July of the following year, the river must be prepared for the Olympic triathlon and open-water competitions, followed by the Paralympics.
The opening ceremony, which will take place on the waters and banks of the Seine, will also feature the Seine as its focal point.
As part of the cleanup effort, sewage treatment facilities will be improved as well as enforcement against houses and houseboats that dump their effluent into rivers.
Large storage tanks are also being built to stop effluent that is contaminated with bacteria from leaking into the river during heavy rain.
When may people go swimming in the Seine?
The river will be accessible to the general public after the Olympics in the summer of 2025. The locations of five swimming areas along the Seine are being researched by City Hall, both in Paris and outside the city.
There will probably be four, one at the port of Bercy in the 12th arrondissement, two on the banks of the Parc Rives de Seine, one on the Marie arm, and one on the Allée du Bord-de-l’Eau in the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th.
Swimmable waters will also make Paris more livable in the future, when summer temperatures there could reach over 50 degrees Celsius by 2050.
The project also wants to serve as an example for other cities to start securing their waterways.