Less than a month before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris, the water quality of the Seine is still not sufficient to organize competitions as planned. This is according to the report on water quality for the week of June 17 to 23, published on Friday by the City and Region of Paris.
“Water quality continues to be affected due to adverse hydrological conditions – rainfall, high flow velocity, low solar radiation, below seasonal norm temperatures and pollution in the upper reaches of the river,” the report said.
With a view to the Olympics, around 1.4 billion euros were invested in sewage treatment plants and the sewage system in the greater Paris area to enable the prestigious swimming competitions to take place in the Seine against the backdrop of Paris. During heavy rainfall in the penultimate week of June, a retention basin costing around 90 million euros was used for the first time. This can prevent the discharge of sewage into the Seine, which has previously been the case in such weather conditions.
Opening ceremony at risk
The current high water level of the river and the resulting increased flow rate are also putting the opening ceremony of the games at risk, as the newspaper “Libération” reported. The plan is for the opening of the games to be organized in the heart of the host city rather than in a stadium for the first time in their history.
On July 26, around 160 boats will take the teams with several thousand athletes on a six-kilometer route across the Seine, past the most beautiful sights from the Pont d’Austerlitz to the Trocadero. If the flow rate were to increase, the boats would need 15 minutes less than planned for the route and would disrupt the schedule, which is calculated down to the second, wrote “Liberation.”
