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South China Morning Post
05-07-2025
- Climate
- South China Morning Post
France's Seine reopens to swimmers for first time in 100 years
Parisians and tourists will have the opportunity to swim in the river Seine starting on Saturday, after French authorities lifted a ban that stood for over a century. Advertisement Three outdoor pools have been set up by Paris authorities: one opposite L'île aux Cygnes (Swan Island) near the Eiffel Tower, one near Notre-Dame Cathedral, and one opposite the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The pools feature changing rooms and showers, will be supervised by lifeguards and offer space for sunbathing, according to a statement from the city. Open throughout the summer, they are accessible free of charge up to capacity but only to people able to swim. Water quality will be continuously monitored, as swimmers will be plunging directly into river water, the statement said. As the water is quite shallow, people will not be allowed to dive in. A woman sits on the Seine river banks during a heatwave on Tuesday. Photo: AP 'Everyone should be able to swim in the Seine starting this summer,' said French Sports Minister Marie Barsacq when the move was announced in May.
Asharq Al-Awsat
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Paris to Allow Swimming in Seine from July in Olympic Legacy
Remember the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics? The fortnight of intense and memorable sporting competition against the background of iconic landmarks amid brilliant sunshine in the French capital, days that will never be forgotten. And the constant uncertainty about whether the River Seine would be clean enough to allow the open water swimming and triathlon events to take place. The organizers set the ambitious goal of staging those events in a river long seen as too polluted for swimming and, despite the occasional hitch when heavy rain increased pollution levels, pulled it off. Now, fulfilling a key legacy promise from the Games, the Paris authorities this summer are to allow the public to swim from July 5 at three points in the Seine which is now deemed safe for a dip. "It was an extraordinary moment (in 2024), but swimming during the Games was not an end in itself," Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told reporters. "Making the Seine swimmable is first and foremost a response to the objective of adapting to climate change, but also of quality of life," she added. Parisians and tourists alike will be able to take the plunge at bras Marie in the heart of the historic center, the Grenelle district in the west of Paris, as well as Bercy in the east. Once a favorite pastime in Paris, swimming in the Seine had been off limits for a century until last year due to the pollution levels. "This summer, Parisians and tourists will rediscover the joys of swimming in the Seine, a hundred years after it was banned," city hall said in a statement. Swimming will be supervised and monitored, said Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sports. The city expects to welcome between 150 and 300 people at any given time at the three sites, which will close for the season at the end of August. As on beaches, a system of flags -- green, yellow and red -- will make clear the safety of swimming according to the Seine's current and the quality of the water. The water quality will be closely watched, after high levels of bacteria forced the postponement of some of the competitions on certain days during the Olympics. Checks will be carried out daily, and swimming may be suspended in the event of rain, said Marc Guillaume, the prefect, the top state-appointed official, of the Ile-de-France region that includes Paris. He expressed "even more optimism" about water quality than last summer, given the work done on making the river cleaner.
