French minister promises clean Seine for swimming competitions Games | Abroad

The minister opened a purification plant on Tuesday near the Marne River, which flows into the Seine east of Paris. This must ensure that clean water flows from the Marne into the Seine. She said ensuring the two rivers are safe for swimming is “one of the challenges of the century”. “We will be ready on time,” Oudéa-Castéra said. She pointed out that there are still 94 days until the Olympic Games start in the French capital.

The quality of the Seine’s water is a concern. The river is very dependent on the weather for clean water. Heavy rain washes pollution from the river banks into the water and drains and sewers are forced to release water into the river.

Research published earlier this month stated that the concentrations of E.coli and enterococci are regularly much higher than prescribed by the European swimming guideline from 2006 and the scales of the swimming and triathlon federations. Previously, analyzes by the city of Paris had already shown that between June and September 2023, none of the fourteen Parisian water sampling points had reached a sufficient quality level based on European guidelines.