Despite €1.4 Billion Effort, the River Seine Remains Unfit for Swimming Just a Month Before the Paris Olympics
As the Paris Olympics approach, the city faces an unexpected hurdle: the River Seine, a key venue for several water sports events, remains unfit for swimming. Despite a decade-long investment of €1.4 billion aimed at revitalizing and cleaning the iconic river, recent water quality tests have revealed that it still fails to meet the necessary standards for safe swimming. This alarming revelation comes just a month before the world's top athletes are set to compete in the open-water swimming competition and the swimming leg of the triathlon. The Paris mayor's office recently released the latest water quality tests, which showed concerning levels of E.Coli bacteria—an indicator of faecal contamination. On June 18, the level of E.Coli was found to be ten times above the acceptable limits set by sports federations, and at no point did it fall below the upper limit of 1,000 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters (cfu/ml) as stipulated by the World Triathlon Federation....
