Paris' River Seine Faces Water Pollution Hurdles Ahead of Olympics

Water pollution levels in Paris' River Seine remain significantly above legal thresholds for bathing, posing challenges before the upcoming Olympics. High concentrations of enterococci and E.coli bacteria were reported at triathlon swimming sites. The French capital has been striving to clean up the river, but recent heavy rains have worsened the pollution levels.

Water pollution levels in Paris' River Seine were still much higher than allowed for bathing, data showed on Friday, one month before the Olympics in which the capital's landmark waterway is meant to be one of the swimming venues. Updated data published on the city's website showed the concentrations of enterococci and E.coli bacteria remained well above legal thresholds as of Sunday at all four testing points along the river.

At the Alexandre III bridge, the planned triathlon swimming site, enterococci exceeded a concentration of 1000 colony-forming units (cfu)/100 ml on Sunday, more than double the 400 cfu/100ml limit set by European law. The E.coli concentration was almost four times higher than permitted. Water pollution levels spike in periods of heavy rain, which in recent weeks have also increased the flow of the river to around six times its seasonal average, Paris's mayoral service said on the website.

The French capital has been working on cleaning up the Seine so people can swim in it again, as was the case during the 1900 Paris Olympics. But a sewer problem last summer led to the cancellation of a pre-Olympics swimming event. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, who championed a campaign to clean up the once famously dirty river in time for the Olympics, earlier this month postponed her planned dip in the river, saying it was likely to happen on June 30.

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