Swimming In The Seine: How Paris Cleaned Up Its River

In 1923, swimming in the Seine was so filthy a prospect it was outlawed; a century later, it’s looking like the ban (with its €15 fine) might soon be lifted, with swimming actively encouraged. With the Paris 2024 Olympic games just around the corner, it’s time for the moment of truth. Drumroll, please…

The Seine Is Officially Clean Enough For Swimming

Paris mayors have grappled for decades with the murky Seine, but the fast-approaching Paris 2024 Olympic games catalysed all clean-up efforts so the triathalon could be held in the heart of the city. Yesterday (17 July), the city’s mayor Anne Hidalgo stuck true to her word, hopping into the now-clean river, met by cheers and applause. Around 100 officials, athletes and locals joined her for a dip after stringent tests deemed the water safe for swimming.

‘It’s sweet and wonderful and the result of a lot of work,’ Hidalgo said. ‘I remember at the very beginning in 2015 when we began our campaign for the Games, the international triathlon federation said why not a triathlon in the Seine? Will athletes be able to swim in the Seine? Today we can say they can.’

The efforts follow the likes of Zurich, Munich and Copenhagen all opening their inner-city rivers to swimmers. In 2023, TIME declared that, if Paris is successful, it will be the ‘world’s first giant urban area to have inner-city bathing’ – so that’s another feather in Paris’ cap.

How Did Paris Clean The Seine?

The following measures will contribute to a spick and span River Seine:

• A city-wide clean up to prevent waste of all kinds finding its way into the water.
• A new underground rainwater storage tank, capable of holding up to 45,000 cubic metres of water. During rainstorms, the tank will hold rainwater, preventing it from overwhelming Paris’ sanitation network, which currently pulls untreated waste flow into the river.
• A tunnel linking the new rainwater tank to the sewage system, where it will be treated before entering the river.

Investing over €1.4 billion towards the effort – most of which was spent on the storm drain – making the Seine swimmable is a goal France has been pursuing as early as 1988, when Mayor Jacques Chirac promised to swim in the Seine within five years, a promise that was never fulfilled. But interest was renewed in 2016 when, according to Bloomberg, part of the city’s Olympic bid hinged on a clean River Seine, with a suggestion that the triathlon could be held in the murky waters. It’s a romantic dream, mirroring Paris’ first Olympic Games in 1900, when athletes took to the river to compete.

Which Olympic Events Will Take Place In The Seine?

The 10K swimming marathon, the swimming portion of the triathlon, and a Paralympics swimming event will all take place in the Seine. They will start at a new venue under the Alexandre III bridge. This is also where the opening ceremony will commence, with athletes bobbing along the river on a flotilla of boats for 6km, firmly rooting the Games in the historic city and sailing past most of its famous landmarks.

Can Anyone Swim In The Seine?

Swimming in the Seine will be actively encouraged from 2025. By this time, Parisians will additionally benefit from 26 new swimming pools bracketed off from boat traffic in the Seine, four of which will be in the city centre.

Would you swim in the River Seine? When polled in 2021, Parisians were reluctant to don their swimsuits and take a dip in the famously filthy river, calling it dirty, polluted and smelly, even despite these plans being well underway. Perhaps it’ll take a little more convincing before our feeds are flooded with swimming pics snapped under the Eiffel Tower.