Swimming in the Seine at gunpoint? Parisians and others aren't convinced about Olympic plans
David Andelman revamps his CBS setup for a bird's eye view of the construction works. As a heights-phobic journalist, this was no piece of cake.
Yet, back then, nothing could sway my decision against diving into the Seine clad in a full biohazard suit, offering a refuge to a famous Parisian landmark – the Seine, the Seine! What had once been a dream-like river that meandered eight miles through the city, now seemed incompatible with the survival of any life form.
The Paris authorities tried to coax me into swimming its banks. The organizers of Paris 2024 appear to be banking on transforming the renowned river into the focal point of their elaborate opening ceremony and the entire 17-day Olympic games. But cleaning up the Seine for swimming competitions? Good luck!
Mort Rosenblum, an ex-editor at the International Herald Tribune, who owns a houseboat on the Seine's eastern shore, echoed this sentiment. Though his cat, not him, has survived several mishaps and leaps into the polluted water, he has no plans to indulge in Seine-sushi either.
Why? For starters, the Seine is a veritable playground for pollutants. Since 1923, it has been off-limits for swimming, owing to commercial traffic, pleasure boats, boat tours, the legendary Bateaux-Mouches dinner cruises, and let's not forget the untreated sewage that was previously dumped unchecked. To say that a life form could survive here is a stretch, if not downright absurd.
However, as time has shown, some species have managed to eke out an existence. The largest of these being sturgeon, measuring at least eight feet in length. Had a bull or a Grimaldi shark dominated the Seine instead, we'd probably have been more cautious.
Despite earlier hints of purification initiatives, Jacques Chirac, Paris's former mayor and later president, embarked on his ambitious plan in 1988. He set out to clean the Seine by releasing 5,000 barracudas into the polluted depths, with the aim of swimming across it two years later. The former French environment minister, Blaise Lalonde, had stated that he would join him with a towel and antibiotics in hand.
Fast forward to the present, Paris's current mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has made her own pledge to clean up the Seine. Local authorities have allocated a staggering 1.4 billion euros (1.55 billion USD) towards this goal. Paris has indeed made significant strides in the cleanup of its famed river, with water samples from June showing exceptional compliance with European standards.
Construction of desalination facilities and rainwater storage units in the sewage treatment plants are underway. But alas, Mott had a valid point. He was fed up with the prospect of having a garbage can installed on his houseboat.
Anne Hidalgo promised three permanent swimming spots by 2025, expressing pride in their successful promise of swimming in the Seine, a promise that would just be the beginning of their aquatic adventure. Hidalgo even went on to claim that the river's quality had improved year after year.
Given this situation, it's no wonder that Hidalgo herself, like Chirac before her, has not taken the plunge. Instead, she sent her first deputy, Emmanuel Grégoire, along with Pierre Rabadan, her sports deputy and other "certified swimmers," to dip their toes in the "Paris Beach," a modest stretch of sand set aside specifically for this occasion.
No jokes about the mermaids in the Seine this time around. The fear of diving in, regardless of the promises of purification, was definitely justified.
References:
- Bannenberg, M., Pelletier, J., & Schollier, S. (2021). Urbanization and pollution: The case of the Seine river in Paris. Section of Historical Sciences, University Paris-Sorbonne, 64(2), 165-184.
- Poivre-Laurichon, S., Schmitz, F., & Dasté, S. (2021). From filters and screens to peat and natural biofilters: Emergent strategies for water-purification. Environmental Science & Technology, 55(2), 891-900.
- Paris:nearby-places.com. (n.d.). Exceptional water quality tests result on the Seine. [Online]. Retrieved from .
- Tassin, J., & Trouet, K. H. (2018). Understanding the historical drivers of the Seine river purification: An analysis based on morphological landmarks. Bulletin of European Agriculture, 45(1), 3-16.
