Is the River Seine safe for Olympians? Why has Paris' Mayor vowed to take a dip?

France is set to host the Olympics – and people are worried about the River Seine.

The river is set to host the open-water swimming competition and the swimming leg of the triathlon in the upcoming games.

However, a number of people have expressed concern about the river’s pollution levels.

Paris’ mayor Anne Hidalgo has vowed that the river will be ready for the Olympians and that she herself would take a swim in the Seine next week.

Let’s take a closer look at the row:

What’s the issue?

As per NBC, the marathon swimming competition in the Seine is slated for August 8 and 9, while the triathlon will be held on 30 and 31 July.

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The mixed relay of the triathlon will be held on 5 August.

As per CNN, the authorities have chalked out a $1.5 billion clean-up plan for the river.

French authorities have spent the past decade trying to clean up the river by improving the Paris sewerage system, as well as building new water treatment and storage facilities.

The French capital has been working on cleaning up the Seine so people can swim in it again, as was the case during the 1900 Paris Olympics.

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But major storms still overwhelm the capital’s waste water network, some of which dates back to the 19th century, leading to discharges of untreated sewage directly into the river.

A sewer problem last summer led to the cancellation of a pre-Olympics swimming event.

The outlet quoted Paris region prefect, Marc Guillaume, as saying the operation was taking longer than expected because of unusually heavy rainfall in the spring.

Tests last month released by the Paris mayor’s office showed levels of the E.Coli bacteria – an indicator of faecal matter – were far above the upper limits imposed by sports federations.

On June 18, the level of E.Coli was 10 times acceptable levels and at no point did it fall below the upper limit of 1,000 colony-forming units per 100 millilitres (cfu/ml) used by the World Triathlon Federation.

The readings for enterococci bacteria were better, but they were still at unsafe levels.

Levels of bacteria improving

However, things are looking up.

The quality of the Seine water has improved, data showed last week, three weeks before the Olympics.

Data published by the city and regional authorities showed the concentrations of enterococci and E.coli bacteria were below legal thresholds six out of nine days between June 24-July 2.

The test results by monitoring group Eau de Paris show showed for that all but one day from June 26 to July 2, contamination levels were below the safe limit of 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters determined by the World Triathlon Federation for competitions.

French officials remain optimistic, and insist there is no Plan B for Olympic open-water swimming events.

The levels of the Seine depend on rainfall and water temperature among other factors. With decent weather, the quality of the water is expected to remain good.

But organisers have said that the Paris 2024 marathon swimming event could be taking place just outside Paris should the River Seine prove unsuitable for bathing.

“The rules of World Triathlon allow, as a final resort, for the competition to be held in a duathlon format. On the other hand, in order to guarantee that marathon swimming events could still be held if all other contingency plans were exhausted, we have initiated a fallback plan based on the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium,” a Paris 2024 spokesperson told Reuters

“The competition site, already used for rowing and canoeing events, has all the necessary features to host these events if required.”

‘Will swim in Siene’

CNN quoted Hidalgo, who championed a campaign to clean up the once infamously dirty river in time for the Olympics, as saying she would take a dip in the Seine next week.

It will be “depolluted, that’s for sure,” she added.

Hidalgo last month postponed her planned dip in the river.

The Seine “was not the priority anymore” she was quoted as saying by CNN.

She had said she will likely take the dip after the French snap elections and after the annual July 14 Bastille Day celebrations.

“Yes, I will swim in the River Seine, not now because the weather is not so well in Paris, but also because we have election,” she was quoted as saying by NBC.

“It is not possible to organise the jump to the river during the election, and now we are with a new date for this very great moment before the opening ceremony, because I want to swim in the River Seine before the opening ceremony.”

“We have every confidence in the work undertaken by the State, the City of Paris and all the parties involved to make the Seine swimmable so that the events can take place there as planned,” the spokesperson added.

‘May regret it’

A 75-year-old American swimmer on Thursday took a dip in the river.

Joel Stratte McClure, who last swam in the Seine in 1976 for a magazine cover shoot and turns 76 this month, said he was impressed with the progress made in cleaning up the river, but still had concerns about its safety.

“I may regret having swum,” McClure said before entering the water.

“But if I come back alive, it will prove that the French have done a good job cleaning up the river.”

“I think the president organised new elections to avoid swimming in the Seine,’’ McClure joked.

After a brief swim, he declared the water “fantastic” and expressed hope that others would follow his lead and take advantage of the cleaner river.

With inputs from agencies