For the first time in more than 100 years, the Seine River in Paris has opened for swimming and recreation, following a $1.5 billion cleanup project pushed forward by last year’s Olympic games.
“I swam in the Seine on Saturday. I dived in near the heart of Paris – the elegant ancient mansions of Île Saint-Louis rising above me, and the Seine’s stone bridges stretching into the distance,” wrote Catherine Porter for The New York Times this week. “A crowd splashed around me, giggling with pleasure and wonder.”
According to the International Olympic Committee, swimming used to be a part of everyday Parisian life. That is, until it was banned in 1923 due to pollution in the river.
While cleanup efforts have been underway since the 1990s and a decade ago the Greater Paris Sanitation Authority announced plans to make the river swimmable again by addressing aging sewage systems, stormwater runoff, and wastewater discharge, but it was last year’s games that really got things into gear.
“The spirit of the Games continues to live on in the streets of Paris. And now, in the waters of the Seine,” said Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. “This progress would not have come so quickly without the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is through this joint, demanding project, supported by all the stakeholders of the State and the Olympic and Paralympic Movement, that we have been able to meet the environmental, health and technical challenges to make swimming possible, safe and sustainable.”
During the games, the Seine served as the backdrop for the Opening Ceremony, and as the Olympic Committee put it was “the soul of Paris 2024.” Multiple competitions were held in the river. Though some athletes were still concerned about contamination in the Seine’s waters, Audacy reported that they used Coca-Cola as a way to flush out potential toxins.
To mitigate decades of pollution and make the Seine safe again, a “massive underground storage basin near Austerlitz now intercepts and retains overflow from the sewer system during heavy rains,” the Olympic Committee explained. This basin can hold the equivalent of 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools of wastewater and it the prevents untreated water from spilling into the river
Now, the Seine has three natural swimming sites that people in Paris can enjoy: Bras Marie, Bercy and Grenelle. They officially opened to the public earlier this month and can be accessed by around 1,000 swimmers and more per day through the end of August. It’s also open to kayaks, available at Grenelle.
“These open-air sites – carefully integrated into the urban landscape with removable, modular structures – were designed with the future in mind. They also address a growing climate need: public access to cooling spaces as urban temperatures rise,” said the Olympic Committee. Lifeguards are also stationed along the river to ensure safety.
Travel + Leisure said that Hidalgo called swimming in the Seine a “childhood dream of hers,” and others who have taken a dip in the river have been elated about the cleanup. Fabrice Atallah told Travel + Leisure that being able to swim while looking at the Eiffel Tower has been “amazing.”
“What a joy. What a joy,” said Martine Laupin, 76, as quoted in Porter’s article for the Times. “This is Paris. Imagine!”
Implications of the cleanup also extend beyond Paris, according to the Olympic Committee. It said the project is an example of how the games can accelerate local infrastructure improvements for host sites.
Areas that are poised to benefit from Olympics-related investments in the near future include: Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, in Italy; Los Angeles, Calif.; the French Alps; Brisbane, Australia, and Salt Lake City, Utah.