1 of 6 | Paris officials spent $1.6 billion to clean up the Seine in time for last year’s 2024 Olympics, but despite the cash infusion, some races had to be postponed because of water quality issues. File Photo by Paul Hanna/UPI | License Photo
The famed Seine river in Paris opened to the public for swimming on Saturday for the first time in over a 100 years, a key victory for outgoing mayor Anne Hidalgo.
The waterway was last swimmable in 1923, with a ban in place since that year because high levels of bacteria made it unsafe for people.
City officials spent $1.6 billion to clean up the river in time for last year’s 2024 Olympic Games. Despite the cash infusion, some races had to be postponed because of water quality issues.
In a show of confidence, Hidalgo herself famously took to the water ahead of the Olympics for a swim to prove the river was swimmable.
“Swimming in the Seine, some have dreamed of it, many have doubted it, and we have done it,” she said on Facebook at the time. “After a 100-year ban, athletes will take their turn in a few days during the Games! It will be next summer for Parisians.”
Hidalgo’s prediction came true on a seasonal basis. Three designated swimming areas opened Saturday morning, each with lounging areas, outdoor furniture, showers and changing facilities, while lifeguards patrol the river.
One of the swimming areas is not far from the Eiffel Tower, while a second is close to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which re-opened last year after a devastating fire. The third is in the eastern part of Paris.
The mayor, who was elected in 2014 and will leave office next year after a failed bid at the presidency, has spent her time in office pushing green initiatives in the city.
Water quality in the Seine has gradually improved over the last 20 years. At its lowest point, people swimming in the river would get sick because of the high bacteria count.
Plans to re-open the Seine to public swimming have been circulating since former French President and then-Paris Mayor Jacques René Chirac campaigned on the promise in 1988.
A planned race across the city was canceled in 2012 because the water was “manifestly insufficient quality for swimming.”
