A key promise in Paris’ bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics was that its famous river, the Seine, would be cleaned in time to host the open water swimming events: triathlon, paratriathlon and marathon swimming. But swimming in the Seine has been banned for a century because Paris’s sewer system is designed to dump wastewater into the river during heavy rains when the sewers are overwhelmed by stormwater. When this happens, levels of E. coli, a bacteria associated with fecal matter, increase, making the water too polluted for swimming.
To fulfill their promise to clean up the river for the Olympics, Paris officials undertook a $1.5 billion USD infrastructure project that included a massive underground tank and tunnel system that could hold excess sewage during heavy rains to reduce pollution of the Seine.
Paris officials will test water quality every day ahead of the Olympic Games. They are hopeful that their ambitious plan to swim the famously polluted river will be successful, but the possibility of swimming in open water will also depend on weather and luck.
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