For more than 100 years, swimming in the Seine had been banned due to concerns over what the water could do to human health. Now Olympic athletes are swimming in it and falling sick. Photo: RNZ / Quin Tauetau
News of athletes falling sick after swimming in the River Seine comes as no surprise to Parisians; the city locals know the water is filthy, and they have been trying to warn us since well before the Olympics began.
Test results published less than two months before the swimming competitions were scheduled to be held revealed elevated levels of bacteria in the river. Despite a mammoth cleanup effort costing upwards of NZ$2.3 billion (€1.3 billion), it is clear the river is not clean enough to swim in.
RNZ unpacks the filthy history of the River Seine.
Why swim in the Seine at all?
The River Seine is intertwined with the identity of Paris - it was once an essential source of water supply for the city and a means of cooling down on a hot summer's day. In the 1900 Paris Olympics, it was used for Olympic swimming across seven events - but of course, the river was much cleaner then.
For more than 100 years, swimming in the Seine has been illegal due to concerns over what the water could do to human health. The river currently holds most of the city's wastewater and is continually impacted by stormwater and other pollutants.
However, swimming in the Seine is in line with Paris Olympic tradition, and this year is no different. The river has been a central element of the 2024 tournament, serving as the setting for the opening ceremony, which included a boat parade and two events, and the swimming leg of the triathlon and marathon swimming events.
How do you clean a large urban river?
Leaking and overflowing sewage systems are a major source of pollution in many urban rivers. Paris is home to 11 million people, with plenty of industry, so cleaning up such a large river is no easy feat.
In the leadup to the Paris games, French authorities had been working to clean up the water, spending $2.3 billion on improving water quality. Stormwater - which is often contaminated by sewage overflows - was being cleaned before being released into the river.
But Paris locals have not been happy about the costly cleanup operation. Just a month before Olympic athletes were due to dive into the Seine, fed up residents threatened to stage a mass defecation in protest, dubbed the Paris Poop Protest.
Did the Paris Poop Protest go ahead?
It is unclear whether people actually defecated in the Seine in the leadup to the Olympics.
A website using the viral hashtag #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin, which translates to "I shit in the Seine on June 23" had appeared in early June. But reports suggest the protest merely a joke, aimed at taunting French President Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, both of whom vowed to go for a swim before the Games to prove the Seine is safe.
In mid-July, Hidalgo inched down a ladder into the murky waters of the Seine, dressed in a wetsuit and small dark goggles. She submerged herself completely, proving to the photographer and TV cameras following her by boat that she believes the water is clean.
Macron made the same pledge, but he never set a date. The French president is yet to take a dip in the Seine.
Is it safe for swimmers?
The river's bacterial levels hit risky figures most days in June due to unseasonably heavy rains and improved slightly in July. Nonetheless, money and effort has not been enough to guarantee swimmer safety.
On 6 August, it emerged New Zealand's triathlon silver medalist Hayden Wilde and one other New Zealand triathlete had fallen ill with E coli after swimming in the River Seine a week prior. The athletes were sick for two days following the individual triathlons, affecting their preparation for the team event held a few days later.
According to Te Whatu Ora, E coli can cause severe stomach cramps, vomiting, and diarrhoea that can be bloody, while enterococcus faecalis, another bacteria indicating fecal matter in water, can present with fever, headaches, and body stiffness.
Who determines the safety of water?
The monitoring group (State and City of Paris), based on Eau de Paris water analysis, publishes weekly results that determine whether the water is clean enough to swim in. The testers measure the level of two bacteria - E coli and enterococcus faecalis.
Every afternoon the day before each familiarisation session (athletes' swim) and before each competition, a technical committee meets, bringing together all the players involved in the issue of water quality in the Seine (City of Paris, Paris 2024, the International Federation, regional authorities, Meteo France).
At the end of this technical committee meeting, an initial analysis is made of the weather conditions. At 3.30am on the day of the competition, a final meeting is held with all the players involved, and the International Federation involved in the sport makes the decision.
What happens next?
Paris 2024 organisers previously warned there was no plan B if the water was unsuitable for swimming on competition day. This has since changed.
"There are contingency days planned for the summer of 2024 for both sports, which will give us some room for manoeuvre," organisers told Reuters.
"Furthermore, the decision-making process will be more refined and precise than ever, as the Eau de Paris laboratory will be analysing the water twice a day."
If, despite the postponements, the competition cannot take place, the marathon swimming event will take place at the reserve site of Vaires-sur-Marne, where rowing and canoeing events are held, and the triathlon will be turned into a duathlon.
