Seine still needs to meet safety standards – DW

Pollution levels in the Seine in Paris remain well above what is permitted for swimming, according to a water quality report released Friday.

The report, completed last week and published by Paris City Hall, comes less than a month before the Olympic Games, during which the French capital’s iconic waterway is expected to see athletes plunge into the waters for swimming events .

“Water quality continues to be impaired due to unfavorable hydrological conditions – precipitation, high flow velocity, low solar radiation, temperatures below seasonal normal and pollution in the upper reaches of the river,” the report said .

Is everyone welcome at the Paris Olympics?

This browser does not support the video element.

What is the level of contamination?

Data showed bacteria such as enterococci and E. coli remained well above legal limits at all four testing sites along the river on Sunday.

At the Alexandre III Bridge, one of the sites for the swimming portion of a triathlon, enterococci exceeded the concentration of 1,000 colony-forming units (cfu)/100 ml on Sunday. This is more than double the limit of 400 cfu/100 ml set by European legislation. E. coli was also almost four times higher than allowed.

French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in sewage treatment plants and a sewerage network in the Paris metropolitan area as the French capital tries to clean up the Seine so people can swim in it again, as they did during the 1900 Paris Olympics.

Paris cleans the Seine for the Olympic Games

This browser does not support the video element.

City hopes for better weather

Paris City Hall said on its website that water pollution levels spike during periods of heavy rain, as has been the case in recent weeks.

According to city officials, when temperatures are higher and water levels are lower, viruses and bacteria that cause diseases can decompose more quickly, which is why they are now hoping for better weather.

“We had a historic period of rain in May and a lot of rain in June. But that didn’t worry us because we knew that with a significant improvement in weather conditions we would return to summer levels,” he said. Reuters agency Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sports and the Olympics.

dh/rm (dpa, Reuters)