A €1,4 billion (R28,6bn) cleanup project is converting the toxic water in the Seine into a swimming spot where Olympic events will be hosted next year, reports euronews.travel.
Paris’s river has been polluted by rubbish and untreated wastewater and now is mainly used to transport goods and people on boats.
The project to clean up the Seine has been in the pipeline for decades, but the approaching Olympic Games have forced it to speed up. The waters and the banks of the river will be the centrepiece of the opening ceremony on July 26 next year. Thereafter, the plan is to clean up the river and make it safe for public swimming by 2025. Bathing has been forbidden due to boat traffic and water pollution since 1923.
Euronews reports that there will probably be two public swimming spots on the banks of the Parc Rives de Seine and one on the Marie arm in Paris Centre, one at the port of Bercy, as well as one on the Allee du Bord-de-l'Eau in the Bois de Boulogne.
The clean-up project will crack down on homes and houseboats that empty their wastewater into the river and improve sewage treatment plants. Huge storage basins are being constructed to prevent wastewater spilling into the river when it rains.
With very high summer temperatures predicted for 2050, swimming spots along the river will make the city more liveable in future.
Speaking about the project, scientist Dan Angelescu, who is tracking the Seine’s water quality for Paris City, says: “It will create waves, so to speak, across the world because a lot of cities are watching Paris. It’s the beginning of a movement.”
