At the end of May, the Lyon municipality announced that it wanted to organize a swim in the Rhône during the “Entre Rhône et Saône” festival. After conclusive tests, this should take place on June 30, on the banks of Parc des Berges.
Taking a dip in the Rhône will be possible in a few days. The Lyon town hall announced at the end of May its desire to open a natural pool in the river so that people could swim there. The tests carried out to check the quality of the water were conclusive and swimming will therefore take place.
Scheduled for this Sunday, June 30 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. as part of the festival Between Rhône and Saône, this will be authorized on the banks of the Parc des Berges, south of Lyon, and will be supervised by rescuers. Around a hundred swimmers will be able to enjoy the waters of the Rhône, staying within a perimeter demarcated by buoys.
“Any swimming outside this area remains strictly prohibited,” specifies the festival on its website.
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No registration is necessary but, in order to limit the number of people present in the water at the same time, filtering will be carried out. Swimming will be accessible from the age of 10 and a sworn certificate, stipulating that the person signing knows how to swim, will have to be initialed before jumping into the water.
The event should allow the authorities to see if this one-off experiment can become sustainable and extendable to other areas of the river.
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In normal times and outside of this Sunday’s event, swimming in the Rhône is strictly prohibited.
