By Manuel Ausloos
PARIS, July 5 (Reuters)
Great news for water lovers and for Paris. A river called Seine has been given another chance to function for the greater good. It was shut down for over a hundred years due to various reasons related to pollution and all. However, it looks like a solution was found, tests were made, cleaning was done, and now people can experience a good swim without worrying about anything. You can imagine how many generations came and went, and yet still this river was closed. You can also imagine how many people were eager to give it a shot, but in 2025, exactly 103 years later, the chain was broken.
Paris’ dream comes true after over a century
Parisians rushed for a dip in the Seine on Saturday as the authorities opened the river to public swimming for the first time since 1923 after an extensive clean-up operation spurred on by it being used as a venue in the Paris Olympics. Three sites along the banks of the Seine in the city will be able to welcome over 1,000 swimmers daily until August 31, local officials said.
Pierre Rabadan, Paris deputy mayor for the Seine River said,
“We’re especially happy to have proved the sceptics wrong and to be able to deliver on the commitments we initially made, on something that was very big and very complicated to achieve.”
It did not start today, but the ban was promised to be lifted years ago
It is not a 2025 thing. In fact, the issue was raised many years ago in 1988 when the Mayor at the time in Paris suggested that something be done to clean up the river. He was supported by the president, Jacques Chirac. For the past two decades, they have been working on it, and everything that stopped the river from coming back to life was being cleared up, and today we can fully acknowledge the freshly opened River Seine.
The issues with the river were
- Water pollution.
- Loss of hope. No one believed it was recoverable.
- Politics.
- Hygiene. It was not suitable for people to swim because of how unclean it was.
Authorities are now assured that this is the right move to open the river for swimming
The reopening of the Seine for public swimming follows efforts by authorities to improve its water quality so it could be used for Olympic events last summer. Investments included connecting tens of thousands of homes to the sewer system, upgrading water treatment facilities, and constructing large rainwater storage reservoirs to prevent sewer overflow during heavy storms.
While delays, triggered by the health impact of heavy rains, impacted some Olympic training sessions and the men’s triathlon event, competitions in the Seine eventually went ahead, bolstering confidence in the river’s safety for public swimming. Daily water quality tests will be conducted during the swimming season, with green and red flags, similar to beach safety systems, indicating whether swimming areas are open or closed.
“Obviously, if we open the swimming area, it is because the water complies with the regulations; it poses absolutely no danger to the people who go swimming,” Rabadan told Reuters. As well as the three sites within Paris, 14 swimming areas outside the capital’s boundaries will be set up on the Seine and the Marne rivers. Two of those already opened on the Marne in June. Until the end of August, three swimming spots on the banks of the Seine will be free to about 1,000 swimmers per day. There is now the assurance that the swimming pool/river is clean and open to everyone.
GCN.com/Reuters.
