With the Olympics around the corner, concerns remain regarding the water quality of the Seine River, which has been polluted by recent heavy rainfall.
The Seine River is expected to be the focus of the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics on July 26. However, heavy rainfall in the area during the past two months has washed raw sewage into the river, creating public health concerns.
The Paris city government reported on July 4 that the number of E. coli bacteria in the Seine had dropped to acceptable levels for four consecutive days. But per sports league regulations, the number of E. coli bacteria in the waters directly underneath the Pont Alexandre III bridge exceeded the upper limit every day last week.
According to Paris city official Pierre Rabadan, the water quality of the Seine River has met the cleanliness standards for swimming for 10-11 of the past 12 days.
The Seine will be the site of the Olympic open water swimming events, including the marathon swimming event and the swimming leg of the triathlon. During the past decade, French authorities have invested 1.4 billion euros (US$1.5 billion) in efforts to control pollution in the Seine.
Hanna Bilinski for RTI News