“The quality of the water remains degraded due to an unfavorable hydrological context: rain, high flow, little sunshine, temperatures below seasonal standards and pollution from upstream,” said the Paris town hall. .
The Seine was still too polluted one month before the opening of the Olympic Games, according to the analysis reports published Friday by the Paris town hall for last week, beyond the standards required for the Olympic events to take place there.
“We expect things to improve this week given the weather,” commented the prefecture of the Ile-de-France region. Regional prefect Marc Guillaume had warned that the river would not be swimmable at the beginning of July due to the flow of the river.
High presence of fecal bacteria
The concentration of the two faecal bacteria on which the regulations for authorising bathing are based showed sharply higher values compared to the first two weeks of June, with very high peaks between 18 and 20 June.
These poor results, due to the weather, have reinforced doubts about the success of the Olympic events in the river (triathlon and open water swimming) but also about the opening ceremony which is also dependent on a correct flow of the river.
In the event of intense precipitation, untreated water – a mixture of rain and wastewater – can be released into the river, a phenomenon that retention works inaugurated just before the Games are intended to prevent. Plan B consists of postponing the tests for a few days, but not changing location.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings