Paris 2024: Will the River Seine be Olympic-ready? • FRANCE 24 English

In this week's show we take a deep dive into the Seine, to find out how Paris's river is preparing for the 2024 Olympics. We see how authorities are racing against time to boost security, curb pollution and keep visitors entertained. With just a few weeks to go before the opening ceremony, one question remains: will the Seine actually be swimmable?
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[@casksj356]

I was in Paris three weeks ago and let’s just say I wouldn’t want to swim in the Seine.

[@GRbobkaina]

and int he thames and in the Hudson river i guess and it's normal. Paris is trying to do an opning ceremony and some olympic games like never before.. The easiest way would be to do it in a stadium and the swimming competition sin a poll like every country has been doing so far

[@galaxypanda2935]

Even though the river likely isn't going to be ready to swim in its important to remember that by having this goal significantly increased efforts to actually clean the river.

[@ThePursuitWOD]

Except the current solutions direction to cleaning the river is just adding temporary fixes to a fundamentally flawed and outdated sewage system.

[@MsMarmima]

​@@ThePursuitWOD considering how long it would take to update it completely (decades) , I don't see how making progressive improvements in the mean time is a problem

[@bagtea]

its gonna be the same right after Olympics, so they are just gonna waste money for now lol

[@WSEDT-re6mn]

They better put these two new retention basins into action quickly! They'll also have to pump clean water into the river daily if they want to meet this deadline!

[@rocky3652]

So that whole river will be polluted one day and then magically clean the whole river by the next day……..? Right…..

[@fjuvo]

Yes. The levels of e-coli rise because of the overflowing of the sewage system due to rain. The bacteria travel downstream within a couple of hours so by next day the levels come back to normal

[@jeremy0190]

The same happens at sea near cities. One day you can swim because it's clean and the other, after a rain, it's forbidden because they found bacteria. I wish this does not happen but I think it's an answer to your comment 😘

[@Saucisse_Praxis]

A river isn't a lake, that should be a big hint.

[@visittavee7773]

Not one day may be one month?

[@vulpo]

Antoine Marmier and the other Olympics officials should be required to swim in the river everyday before the athletes. If they don't get sick, then the athletes can go in.

[@pathallam986]

It only looks grey & unappealing because the river traffic churns up the river bed. During Covid lockdown when there was no traffic, the sediment sank to the bottom & you could see clear down for metres. Beautiful blue and green on sunny days. And it can't be that bad because fish do live in the Seine, and swans to eat them.

[@rogueorangeindustries187]

Sadly that's a naively positive position. Bacteria and virus don't affect all species evenly and Ecoli the one most are worrying about was measured at 200x the American guideline and 20x the Triathlon guideline. I admire the efforts of Paris but they are optimistic at best and disingenuous at worst.

[@user-iw9hv2qi3y]

再脏的水 一段时间不下雨 都会显得清澈 因为脏东西沉淀了

[@IslaSkye123]

I would like to see them get it clean and keep it clean for their own people to enjoy.

[@jeanwong647]

That river been filthy for over a century. They think it can be clean up in 10 years? Good luck!

[@anode-cathode]

Did anyone else noticed she said 2025?

[@chloebrower2598]

I really hope they come up with a plan B in case it’s not clean in time because while swimming in the Seine would be cool, it’s not worth risking the health of the athletes coming to compete.

[@GRbobkaina]

No Plan B unfortunately.. But a plan B and a C

[@tootifrooti7297]

To build confidence, olympic officials should swim and drink the water.

[@josephvalerio6665]

No rational person would expect someone to drink directly from a river in a major city. I swim in a very clean pool but i don't drink that water either.

[@vincesiy1403]

It is impossible to get it ready in time for the olympics. Hopefully they do get it ready in 2025 which is their stated goal for their citizens to be able to freely swim in any time they want.

[@BlackSwan-qj8qs]

what, sewage was just dumped in the river before?

[@jakob7116]

As I understand it basically a huge amount of sewage is dumped when the sewage overfills after it rains

[@EnterTheFenix]

was there a few weeks ago... even though the temp was only about 5-10 degrees, it stank like grey water. as did a lot of the Vendome area

[@vsznry]

@@jakob7116 Just like in New York.

[@benoitcransac2178]

only when it rained hard

[@scorpioninpink]

That is how sewage facilities were always done in old cities like Paris and even London.

[@stephengneri2136]

so no one remembers the story of Katherine Hepburn? who fell in the water in Venice and had a life long eye problem. Its foolish to not be cautious about this.

[@aavvcc]

In an interview she said she wanted to do the scene herself instead of a body double. She later regretted it due to the eye infection she received as a result.

[@wenpai1062]

Just came back from Paris trip, I wouldn’t even put my feet in the Seines river for a second !

[@aidenashmond3223]

What a beautiful cover! Truly enchanting

[@OnlyFactsAndData4829]

Propoganda

[@jeffmeyer9319]

Paris is a beautiful city, but it is so artificial. I wish they would welcome back a bit of nature to the banks of the river. Imagine walking down a sandy beach into the clean fresh waters of the Seine, with clumps of willows on its baks and the Eiffel tower or Notre Dame to gaze upon?

[@Floweriisky]

I saw they had plans to make Paris greener a while ago, I’m not sure how those plans may be going or if they include the Seine.

[@pathallam986]

Sandy beaches aren't natural in a city. They used to create an artificial beach during July & August but stopped because the imported sand was depleting real beaches elsewhere in France. A lot of work has & is being done to increase vegetation like trees and gardens around the city but a lot of it is unnoticed by visitors because it is in local neighbourhoods, not touristy areas.

[@jeffmeyer9319]

@@pathallam986 Well, maybe a river which isn't given enough room doesn't have sandy/gravelly/rockiness, is more likely, unless mitigation is built in to cause lighter material to settle out and form the sandy beach. It used to be we wanted to get away from nature, now we want more of it, because we can and it's healthier for one's soul. In Seattle we have sandy/gravelly beaches on the shores of our downtown.

[@GRbobkaina]

Paris artificial?? Are you were aware that when you cross a bridge in Paris, when you walk along the river seine, or into some Distrits, there is 100 of years of history behind??

[@jeffmeyer9319]

@@GRbobkaina artificial = human-made = not natural

[@WalterWhite84762]

Make the water pooply again

[@Siranoxz]

This doesn't encourage any guaranteed safety.

[@krsmovie1939]

The river has been polluted for ages and you want to clean it in such a short time? This is dumb af

[@nancyhanson3472]

I watched another video about this on KZbin, and it said that the clean up has taken two years and cost millions of dollars.

[@PripurnanandaGiri-dl5gf]

Congratulations. OLYMPIC GAMES PARIS 2024.

[@stacyb-r6931]

NOW hooked up to the city's sewage system. So prior? What in the...

[@vashantir]

What is plan B? OBVIOUSLY the Seine won't be ready.

[@Paul_C]

Depends on what the weather plays ball. Where she walks in the video might be flooded...

[@mostwant3dgov]

The swimers will have to pay the ultimate price for this experiment. I'm just waiting for someone to come out and say this was a very elobarate joke.

[@OnlyFactsAndData4829]

Free New Calidona

[@aidenashmond3223]

Kudos to DW

[@islandbirdw]

100 years between Paris Olympics 1924-2024.

[@unaonse1115]

Oh the delusion

[@Abc-vm4wt]

The answer is NEVER

[@adamlook798]

Pasig River has chance to host Olympics

[@arselenebitara1356]

😂😂😂😂

[@jeromefitzroy]

Pas possible

[@bugrakaanaknc5218]

if i were an athlete i'd drop out that river is full of microplastics even if everything else is cleaned

[@Heavilymoderated]

Literally everything and everyone is full of microplastics.

[@EliF-ge5bu]

That's dirty dirty water. Toxic by the looks of it. Are they going to ask athletes to dip in that cesspool?

[@benoitcransac2178]

did you listen at all?

[@EliF-ge5bu]

@@benoitcransac2178 Do you trust the French authorities to do as they claim here? I don't.

[@sosure]

i would NEVER swim in that River! never ever

[@latp9567]

I wouldn't 😅

[@leaedt7614]

Well, I love that dirty water

[@Desi_Des]

I wouldn’t stick my finger in that water. Disgusting and polluted. No one should swim in the Seine river.

[@joerivanlier1180]

Why do they need a tank with 24 olympic swimming pools of sewage? One, maybe two if you want to be really sure is enough for the olympic games I'd reckon..

[@KyrilPG]

Did you watch the video? The retention basin is here to hold the mix of rain water and sewer during a saturation event. The system in Paris is very old and does not separate rain water from sewage water, so, when there's important rainfall, the sewers and treatment facilities are overwhelmed, causing the system to spill over into the Seine river. The huge new retention system allows the sewers to overflow into the tank instead of the river, so that the water can be processed entirely in the treatment plants over a longer period before being released clean in the river. It's an overflow tank, so it needs to be huge to hold as much water as possible and not release untreated water into the river for most rain events. If it only held the equivalent of 3 swimming pools, it would only be sufficient for some days and not most heavy rain days. With its current gigantic size, it should be able to prevent overflow into the river on at least 3 quarters of heavy rain days. Only the most extreme rainfalls would saturate the system now. So, the pollution events should drastically decrease in frequency and intensity.

[@vulpo]

Maybe it would have been better to just build Olympic swimming pools, so the Olympic athletes wouldn't have to swim in filthy water.

[@tomso9246]

Athletes will NEVER swim there for the 2024 Games.

[@Lee_Sinjikun]

That river is disgusting dirty and smells like shlt.. compared to the river in Lyon

[@chrisvinci5417]

The americans got to the moon in the 1960s and here we are 60 years later and the french can't seem to clean a river

[@giovannimartin9576]

The Hudson and the Potomac are not that clean either.

[@91mrmister]

I think after seeing the evidence we can all agree the Americans did NOT go to the moon. Newsflash it was a HOAX

[@ethanquenum4778]

The intelligence in that country has plummeted.

[@sharpasacueball]

@@giovannimartin9576 Yeah but they are not holding swimming competitions in it either

[@admar1208]

to be fair the US isn't doing so well either when it comes to cleanliness.

[@tylerdurden4006]

Lol, where else are you gonna dump your sewage? How could you possibly clean that river? Lmfao 😂

[@highwayrider9165]

Europe and USA having very high standards for govt properties

[@A3Kr0n]

I stopped caring about the Olympic decades ago. It's too messed up.

[@petertorvik8413]

I was once thrown in the Schuykill and I'm still alive. Just saying.

[@JCJC-sg8qv]

To these who plan to come to Paris for Olympics, please cancel your trip! Paris is turning into a dictatorship for that event! Please people help us and boycott olympics game!

[@lyudmilanazemtseva9309]

What do you mean???

[@PauloAdriano-zo2ng]

​@@lyudmilanazemtseva9309 It's pretty clear. Why do you need to ask? 🤔

[@JCJC-sg8qv]

@@lyudmilanazemtseva9309 What do i mean? just read the rules that will be in place in Paris during that event. Probably no one talk about that overseas...people are not informed.

[@yorha26b]

​@@JCJC-sg8qvthen tell us what are they

[@nunchucknads3644]

Ok. I’ll vacation at Mar-a-Lago instead. Totally normal place.