Paris City Council ensures the Seine is swimmable: eleven days out of twelve in line with expectations

A swimmable Seine in the run-up to the Olympic Games

The Paris City Council recently stated that the Seine complied with bathing standards for “ten or eleven days” out of the last twelve. The announcement, made by Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor in charge of the Olympic Games and the Seine, comes less than three weeks before the Olympic events scheduled to take place on the river.

“We hope that the weather conditions will improve, but we remain confident that the competitions will take place,” Rabadan told RFI, stressing that the marathon swim and triathlon would take place as planned, with adjustments if necessary. “We are not totally serene about the vagaries of the weather, but we have no doubts about our ability to organise the events on time,” he added.

Continuous surveillance and contingency plans

Since the beginning of June, the town hall and the regional prefecture have been publishing the results of water quality analyses on a weekly basis. At the beginning of July, the analyses showed that the Olympic site under the Alexandre-III bridge was compliant six days out of seven. These results are crucial for the organisers in the run-up to the triathlon (30 and 31 July, 5 August), marathon swimming (8 and 9 August) and paratriathlon (1 and 2 September) events.

In the event of heavy rainfall, newly inaugurated retention structures are designed to prevent the discharge of untreated water into the Seine. If these facilities prove insufficient, the events could be postponed for a few days. As a last resort, marathon swimming could be moved to Vaires-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne), according to Tony Estanguet, Chairman of the Games Organising Committee.

A symbolic commitment

To demonstrate the quality of the water, the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, will be swimming in the Seine during the week of 15 July. The event, scheduled for the morning of Wednesday 17 July on the Marie arm near Hôtel de Ville, is intended to reassure the public that the river is safe to swim in.

Paris City Council is doing everything in its power to ensure that the Olympic Games are a success and that the swimming events on the Seine are safe. The next few weeks will be crucial in confirming these efforts and ensuring an unforgettable Olympic experience.