hitting the Seine: Paris to unveil THREE riverside swimming spots next summer!
Basking in the Seine: Paris Welcomes Three Swimming Venues in July - Enjoying a Dip in the Seine: Paris Offers Three Swimming Locations in July
Looking for a cool dip in the City of Love? Well, get ready to dive into the Seine River starting summer 2025!
Paris's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, has been pushing for this aquatic adventure for years and went for a refreshing swim in the river last year herself. By next summer, you'll find three designated swimming areas along the Seine. But don't jump in just yet! These swimming spots will be closed if the current is too powerful or if the water quality isn't up to snuff after a rainstorm, according to Marc Guillaume, the Prefect of the Ile de France region. Water samples will be gathered daily for testing. You may remember hearing about water quality issues halting competitions during last year's Olympic Games.
For decades, approximately 23,000 Paris households dumped their waste directly into the Seine or Marne rivers, earning it the rather unsavory nickname of "Paris' toilet." The government's cleaned things up with about €1.4 billion allocated for a renovation ahead of the Olympic games. In the last year alone, an extra 2,000 homes responsible for dumping waste into the river were linked to the sewage system, as reported by Guillaume.
Teams went door-to-door to convince homeowners to jump on board with the sewage design and reminded pleasure boat and houseboat operators to quit their waste dumping ways too. Plus, a massive overflow basin was constructed near the Austerlitz train station to prevent the sewage system from overflowing into the Seine during heavy downpours. This retention system can store a whopping 50,000 cubic meters of water, that's the equivalent of a whopping 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools!
If you think this is a modern-day marvel, you're right. Back in the day, swimming events were held in the Seine during the 1900 Summer Olympics, but outside the city limits. Paris also used to have floating bathhouses supplied with water from the Seine, a thing of the past since swimming in the Seine was banned in the city back in 1923.
- Swimming Spots
- Paris
- Anne Hidalgo
- Clean-up campaign
- Olympic games
- Sewage system
- Rain
- Paris's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, spearheaded a clean-up campaign to improve the water quality of the Seine River, following concerns about waste dumping highlighted during the Olympic games.
- By next summer, there will be three designated swimming spots along the Seine in Paris, part of an initiative by Anne Hidalgo to encourage outdoor-living and lifestyle changes among city residents.
- The success of the swimming spots will depend on continuous monitoring and maintenance, as demonstrated by the temporary closure of these areas during times of strong current or poor water quality after rain.
