Water quality has improved after heavy rains, boosting hopes bacteria levels will be low enough for athletes to compete
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and head of the Olympics committee, Tony Estanguet, took a dip in the Seine on Wednesday, in a bid to prove that a costly clean-up had made the river ready for athletes to use at the upcoming games. Hundreds lined up on nearby quays and perched on bridges as the pair hopped into the historic artery from a temporary dock erected near the town hall to shouts of “bravo”.
Additional water treatment plants were built, while hundreds of houseboats and 20,000 homes and buildings along on the Seine were linked to the sewage system for the first time. A 700-metre underground tunnel and large storage tank were built along the right bank of the river, at a cost of about €90mn, to capture overflow from the French capital’s antique sewers and prevent pollution during periods of heavy rainfall when run-off dumps into the Seine.
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