Every week, it’s the same expectation. And every week, so far, a positive result has been desired. Friday, less than a month before the grand launch of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the latest water samples from the Seine, taken by Paris town hall, revealed that the Parisian river was still not swimmable.
The Seine is still too polluted to host triathlon and open water swimming events to date. These take place respectively on July 30, 31 and August 5 for the triathlon, then on August 8 and 9 for open water swimming. The river has a little more than a month left to gain purity.
“An unfavorable hydrological context”
“The quality of the water remains degraded due to an unfavourable hydrological context: rain, high flow, low sunshine, temperatures below seasonal norms and pollution from upstream,” the town hall said.
The presence of two bacteria, Escherichia coli and enterococci (indicators of fecal contamination), is currently preventing the authorities from giving the green light for swimming. A few days ago, the prefect of the Île-de-France region, Marc Guillaume, had nevertheless said he was “confident, with the Cojo (Organizing Committee), that the events would be held at the end of July, beginning of August, in the Seine.”
