Is Paris Ready to Host the Olympics? The Struggle to Clean Up the Seine in the Host City

With the 2024 Paris Olympics only a few months away now, Paris is getting ready to host the grand event. Earlier, the Seine River was chosen as the venue for some of the swimming events. But for the last century, the river has been regarded as improper for swimming due to the high concentration of pollutants, metal, and fecal bacteria in it. In fact, in 1923, Paris officials imposed a ban on swimmers from swimming in the Seine. Although several attempts have been made since then, no substantial achievement has been made yet.

Time reported that alone in 2022, “1.9 million cubic meters of untreated wastewater“ was poured into the Seine, which means that the river was still polluted, in fact highly polluted. However, Parisian officials have earlier stated that they want the capital city’s river to host the opening ceremony, just like the 1900 Olympics. The question is, can it be cleaned until then? It might seem like an uphill task, but faith can move mountains, as they say.

A herculean effort ramping up to clean the Seine

The first significant step taken to clean the Seine was made in 2016 when Paris bid to host the Olympics. A water-monitoring company, Fluidion was employed in 2016 and has been monitoring the pollution levels of the river since then. Several infrastructure upgrades and the advent of technology have been promulgated since then, the most significant being the Austerlitz storage basin. The basin has the size of the 20 Olympic pools which have been built to save this year’s Olympics.

Austerlitz station will act as a giant rainwater holder and is capable of holding over 46 million liters of water. Since the city is greeted by heavy rains in the summer, the basin will store the water, which will later be transported via a tunnel to a treatment plant. The water will be purified, and when the safety standards are met, it will be poured back into the behemoth Seine. Although it won’t reduce the already present, all-pervasive levels of pollution, the Austerlitz storage basin will for sure prevent the Seine from polluting further.

According to a recent report by CBC News, several huge underground reservoirs are also being built to capture the untreated waste under the water. The report also added that the construction was going on a very large scale, and urgently, as time was running thin. According to the Deputy Mayor of Paris, ‘there’s no plan b‘ but to keep removing the pollutants through reservoirs. The applied methods have shown quite satisfying results for now.

Is the Seine clean enough to host the Paris Olympics in 2024?

According to the latest reports, the Seine is still far from being clean enough to host the swimming events of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Last summer, the test run was canceled because the river was still deemed to be not clean enough. The incessant rains also saw last year’s Olympic Triathlon, para triathlon test events, and the Open Water Swimming World Cup canceled.

However, the Austerlitz Storage basin is there to safeguard the grand event in case the city is again hit by heavy rains. The underground reservoirs have also started showing their effect, with reports suggesting a very significant drop in pollution levels. Compared to 2021, a 90 percent drop in the pollution level was reported in 2022.

For almost a decade now, several over and under-water cleaning campaigns have been undertaken. According to Time, over 360 tons of pollutants were hauled out of the Seine each year. The pollutants mainly consisted of electronic items, such as TV sets and vehicles. Additionally, tourists and locals alike are also putting efforts to clean the water.

While there won’t be any problem in hosting the opening ceremony in Seine, which will happen for the first time outside a stadium, the water is still not deemed fit for swimming events. However, with a significant drop being seen in the pollution levels as compared to previous years and a few more months to get it back to its pristine state, the Seine is expected to be fit enough for cleaning by the time athletes arrive in Paris for a historical opening ceremony.

Opening ceremony in Seine – in sickness and in health

For the first time in the Summer Olympics history, the opening ceremony will take place outside a stadium, and the first privilege has been honored on the Seine. The river will host an opening parade with separate boats for each country’s delegation. It will be a 6 km long parade where 10,500 participating athletes will pass through the center of Paris and end in front of Trocadero.

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Trocadero will be the de facto home to the rest of the opening ceremonies and shows. Fans will witness the event free of cost on the banks of the Seine, while those wishing to view it on the Austerlitz bridge will have to purchase tickets. Being an open parade, the 2024 Paris Olympics opening ceremony is expected to be the largest ever attended one. And so will the swimming events in the Seine as the World hopes France’s iconic river gets clean enough?

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