Paris delivers Seine swimming, but some still sceptical

PARIS — Parisians will swim in the River Seine by the foot of the Eiffel Tower next year, Paris City Hall has pledged, although the high bacteria levels that delayed Olympic triathlon events this summer have left some residents and tourists hesitant over diving in.

France spent 1.4 billion euros (S$2 billion) turning a river frequently laden with sewage into one clean enough to swim in. Holding outdoor swimming events in the Seine would demonstrate its transformation to a global audience, Paris had hoped.

The triathlon events did go ahead. But earlier torrential rains led to a spike in bacteria in the river beyond safe levels, forcing the cancellation of training sessions and a days-long delay to the men's race.

That and Belgium's decision to withdraw its team from the mixed triathlon relay after an athlete fell ill — even if there was no proof the river water was to blame — have not helped convince doubters of the Seine's cleanliness.

"I don't think we would swim in the river after all the coverage," said British tourist Jack Wolper after his young daughter and wife took a dip in Paris' Ourcq canal.

"This felt a bit more acceptable but I don't think we'll be jumping in the Seine. If they delay an elite race by two days, that's reason enough for us not to go swimming," he added.

Paris resident Pedro Couri, 29, said he would wait for President Emmanuel Macron to fulfil his promise of swimming in the Seine before having a go himself.

"That might reassure me," he told Reuters.

Others were more trusting in the Paris authorities.

"It's reassuring that they postponed some races, it shows they don't take any risk with quality water," Jade Goasguen, 34, from the Paris suburb of Clichy said, adding she would happily try swimming in the Seine next year.

'Plan a worked'

The green light to hold the triathlon events hung on whether the concentration of the E.Coli and Enterococcus faecalis bacteria had fallen below European safe limit thresholds.

However, some scientists have said a broader ranger of bacteria should be tested to be certain the river is safe.

"E. coli doesn't reliably tell you when the water quality has recovered to a safe level, and I think that's the mistake that authorities in Paris have been making," said Professor Stuart Khan of the University of Sydney.

Paris authorities say they comply with European safety guidelines and have been testing water in the Seine and other swimming facilities for years rigorously.

Mayor Anne Hidlago and her team remain sanguine about their plans to open three swimming facilities along the Seine, including near the Notre-Dame cathedral and Eiffel Tower.

"I've been asked 777 times whether we had a plan B, plan C, plan E. We had just plan A, we stuck to it and it worked," Pierre Rabadan, the official in charge of the Seine programme at City Hall told reporters.

Funded by the government and Paris City Hall, the ambitious project to modernise the capital's sanitation system included digging new pipes to houses and houseboats that once pumped raw sewage into the river, additional treatment plants and a cavernous reservoir underneath the capital's Gare d'Austerlitz.

More work will be done upstream by 2025 to ensure other houseboats and towns outside Paris do not pollute water going through the capital, Rabadan said.

He added that Paris had faced a barrage of scepticism when it opened the Ourcq canal bathing facility, just outside the city centre, seven years ago, but that it had been a huge success in the end.

"We'll soon have the same issue we had with other facilities: we won't have enough space for all the people who want to swim in the Seine next year," he added.

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