Every time I visited Paris, it was forbidden to swim in the Seine River, which flows through Paris, because it was too polluted. But now, the city of Paris has determined that the Seine is clean enough for public swimming, so it is ending a century-old ban.
Parisians and tourists flocked to take a dip in the Seine River this weekend after city authorities gave the green light for it to be used for public swimming for the first time in more than a century.
The opening followed a comprehensive clean-up program sped up by its use as a venue in last year’s Paris Olympics after people who regularly swam in it illegally, lobbied for its transformation.
The outgoing mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, also helped to champion the plans, jumping in the river herself before the Olympics.
About 1,000 swimmers a day will be allowed access to three bathing sites on the banks of the Seine for free, until the end of August.
About €1.4bn (£1.2bn) has been invested in the project including inconnecting more than 20,000 homes to the sewer system (the waste from which had hitherto been dumped directly into the Seine), improving water treatment facilities and building substantial rainwater storage reservoirs equivalent in size to 20 Olympic swimming pools to avoid overflows of sewage during rain storms.
The Seine is a 483 mile-long river in northern France. It starts 250 miles upstream from Paris and flows through Paris before reaching the English Channel at Le Havre. Over 60 percent of its length, all the way up to Burgundy, can be traveled by large barges and most tour boats.
