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Join on Telegram Rabat – One month before the 2024 Paris Olympics, recent water quality tests revealed that the city’s Seine river is still unfit for swimming, France 24 reported today.
The river, which was set to host the open-water swimming competition and the swimming leg of the triathlon, shows high levels of E. coli bacteria, far exceeding the limits set by sports federations.
Tests completed last week and released by Paris’ mayor office indicated that E. coli levels were 10 times the acceptable limit on June 18, with no readings below the upper threshold of 1,000 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters (cfu/ml). Although enterococci bacteria levels were better, they still posed safety concerns on several days.
The mayor’s office attributed the poor water quality to “unfavorable hydrological conditions, little sunshine, below-average seasonal temperatures, and upstream pollution.”
French authorities have invested €1.4 billion over the past decade to attempt to clean the river, improve the Parisian sewerage system, and build new facilities for water treatment and storage.
However, severe storms continue to overwhelm the city’s aging wastewater network, resulting in untreated sewage being discharged into the river.
Despite these challenges, organizers of the sporting event are hopeful that drier weather and more sunshine in July will improve the Seine’s water quality and make it suitable for the outdoor swimming competitions.
In the past couple of weeks, numerous people have posted videos of the Seine looking dark, dirty, and muddy. Many mocked the river’s condition as well as French officials’ statements that Paris is ready to host the Olympics.
Doubts about Paris’s readiness to host the event are growing due to other challenges, such as transport operators and police engaging in boycotts and strikes. They are demanding compensation for their extra work and missed vacations and time off during the event.
