July 9, 2023 – 10:40 p.m
Bathers in the Seine in Paris in 1938 – Photo: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
A hundred years later, starting in 2025, Parisians and tourists will be able to bathe again in the Seine, according to an MTI report based on an announcement by Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris. Hidalgo also shared the news on his Twitter page:
Three sites will be opened, an aquatic center that is partly in use, and two more bathing sites not far from the Eiffel Tower. The mayor said that places for bathing will be marked with buoys, and changing rooms and showers will be provided on site.
The old wish of Parisians was to be able to swim again in the River Seine that crosses the French capital. When the Olympic Games were first held in Paris in 1900, swimming competitions were held in the river. Due to the poor water quality, bathing in the Seine was officially banned in 1923, but even in the early 1960s there were people who were not deterred by the ban from swimming in the river.
By the way, there is indeed an outdoor pool on the Cigna River, but here the swimmers do not swim in the river itself, but in the pools attached to it.
The Seine will also play a central role in the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. During the opening ceremony of the Olympics, no less than 140 boats will be paraded in the river with about ten thousand athletes on board.
In order to improve the water quality, an operation to clean the Seine has begun, which has a cost of 1.4 billion euros. In addition, approximately 23,000 homes and 260 household compounds will be connected to the central sewage network, which has so far released untreated sewage into the river.
