With the 2024 Olympic Games just weeks away, Paris’s Seine River has been contaminated with sewage and bacteria levels have increased. Also, the people of Paris have announced that they will defecate in the river Seine against the government for not paying enough attention to public health. A news package about it.
The world famous Olympic Games are being held in France this year. It will be held from July 26 to August 11.
The opening ceremony is planned to include a grand boat parade on the River Seine near the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
On the River Seine, the men’s triathlon, including a 1.5km swim, will be held on the morning of July 30, the first Olympic event of the year. The next day, on July 31, the women’s triathlon will be held.
As the saying goes, no matter how dirty the river Seine is, there is no Paris without the Seine. The river Seine is 780 kilometers long. The River Seine provides a beautiful backdrop for tourists taking photos of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The river Seine is also the lifeblood of Paris.
For centuries, the River Seine has been an important water source and trade route for the French capital, Paris. The banks of the Seine River, which is famous for its cultural excellence, was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1991.
At the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, various swimming and aquatic events were held on the Seine River. Later, swimming in the river Seine was banned due to questionable water hygiene.
After almost 100 years of ban, the International Olympic Committee and the French government decided to host the 2024 Olympic Games on the Seine River.
Previously, the French government had undertaken a 1.5 billion dollar investment to clean up the polluted Seine River. Accordingly, in Paris, an underground storage system known as the Austerlitz Basin has been installed to store rainwater separately and prevent pollution of the Seine River.
This giant basin is designed to hold 46,000 cubic meters of water. It is said to save about a dozen Olympic swimming pools of water. The government also informed that the rainwater collected in this basin will be treated before being released back into the chain.
On February 29, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to swim in the Seine himself to demonstrate how the Seine was cleaned for the Olympics. Following the president’s lead, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo also announced that she would bathe in the Seine before the Olympics.
Last summer, pre-Olympic swimming competitions were canceled due to sewage contamination in the River Seine.
So, is competitive swimming in the Seine safe for athletes? Questions have arisen.
After heavy rains in the first week of last June, sanitation in the river Seine has reached its worst level. The river has been found to contain life-threatening bacteria.
Despite repeated assurances by Paris city government officials that the river’s water was clean, the public was unwilling to accept it. Paris residents, frustrated by the continued pollution of the River Seine, have announced a different kind of protest. In other words, if the government does not properly clean the river Seine, they have said that they will hold a protest to defecate in the river before the start of the Olympic Games.
This has caused shock and panic to the athletes from the countries of the world participating in the Olympic Games.
The organizers of the International Olympic Committee have said that if the river Seine is not suitable for bathing and swimming and is unsuitable for hosting the Olympics, the Games will be scheduled to be held elsewhere instead of the river Seine.
