Olympians will swim in the Seine, Paris believes. It built a “cathedral” against pollution

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is going to swim in the Seine in July. To skeptics who doubt the water in the river will be clean enough for the Olympics, he says: “Come on, it’s going to be quite a party.”

On Thursday, her administration presented the huge underground reservoir Bassin d’Austerlitz, – named after the legendary Battle of Austerlitz, where the French emperor Napoleon defeated the armies of Austria and Russia in 1805 – which is the main key to solving the pollution of the river that flows around the most important symbols of Paris and the whole France. The entire project is expected to cost 1.4 billion dollars, i.e. about 33 billion crowns.

“We are moving forward and we are very confident that we will be able to host competitions on the Seine this summer,” said Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris Olympic Organizing Committee. He was thus alluding to the fact that swimming competitions are to be held in the river as part of the XXXIII Games. Olympics.

The mentioned reservoir is supposed to guarantee that the athlete is not threatened by pollution of the river. “This cathedral, 99 meters underground, can hold almost 50,000 cubic meters of sewage, equivalent to 20 Olympic swimming pools. That’s a lot of polluted water that will no longer be discharged into the Seine,” Mayor Hidalgo explained the dimensions of the reservoir on her Instagram. “Swimming in the Seine was a promise and we are on the way to making it happen,” she added.

In addition, the Seine will not only serve Olympic swimmers and triathletes. Next year, three public swimming pools will open on the river for residents and visitors of the French metropolis. According to The Huffington Post, it is supposed to be one of the weapons against the heat, which can routinely rise to 50 degrees Celsius in Paris by 2050.

The promise of bathing in the Seine returns repeatedly as a political theme. There has been talk for several years that the Seine should once again become a river for swimmers. In the 90s of the last century, the then mayor of Paris and later president Jacques Chirac promised it and declared that he would immerse himself in it, which did not happen.

The current mayor Hidalgo likes to repeat this to critics of plans to make the river accessible at every opportunity. However, The Washington Post points out that the plans were only realized due to the influx of interest and money associated with the Olympics.

But now, for more than a hundred years, swimming in the river – flowing through one of the most famous cities in the world – has been prohibited. The pollution of the Seine is enormous – and this also applies during the preparations for the Olympic competitions.

Bacteria levels exceeding safe limits led to the cancellation of the swimming portion of the Paralympic triathlon test and the Open Water Swimming World Cup last summer. Last month, the environmental group Surfrider Foundation drew attention to alarming contamination, when tests at one site over a six-month period showed higher than recommended levels of some types of bacteria.

However, Paris officials responded that major elements of the clean-up project were not yet operational and that more rainfall than normal for the period had fallen during testing.

But that does not appease the critics. Mayor Hidalková thus repeats her plan to test the water in the river literally on her own skin, namely this July before the start of the Olympics, which is scheduled for Friday, July 26.

According to the original plans, the opening ceremony itself should also take place directly on the Seine.

Hidalgo first announced her intention to “dive” back in January in an interview with Le Figaro. In it, she expressed her wish to be accompanied by Police Prefect Marc Guillaume. It was his long-standing predecessor in office who more than a hundred years ago – in 1923 – banned bathing in the Seine on the territory of the French capital with his decree. And that’s because of the heavy pollution that only grew along with the industrialization and population of the city.

Before this decree – in 1900 at the second modern Olympic Games – Olympic swimmers also competed in the Seine.

Their followers 124 years later should avoid possible pollution. The water will be tested every day and the French organizers repeatedly assure that they have a plan B ready for the swimmers (as well as for the opening ceremony).

2024 Olympic Games in Paris