Macron promises a “clean” Seine ahead of the Olympic Games

Champigny-sur-Marne. French President Emmanuel Macron promised this Tuesday that the water of the Seine River will be “clean” ahead of the Olympic Games, on the occasion of the inauguration of a key rainwater treatment plant for this objective.

“All together mobilized (…) We will achieve it. The water of the Seine will be cold… and clean,” Macron wrote on the social network the dinner.

The Seine will host the open water events, renamed the swimming marathon, and the triathlon during the Olympic Games, scheduled for July 26 to August 11, although uncertainty hangs over whether they can be held there.

To guarantee water quality levels suitable for bathing, the authorities are finalizing the infrastructure put in place for the Games, at a cost of around 14 billion euros.

This plant, installed on the banks of the Marne River – a tributary of the Seine with which it flows at the gates of Paris – will allow the purification of stormwater, which usually carries wastewater in its path before being discharged back into the river.

Being able to bathe in the Marne and the Seine is “one of the events of the century” and “we will be ready in time”, declared the Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, during its inauguration about 10 kilometers southeast of Paris.

This infrastructure, together with the Austerlitz reservoir, currently under construction in the center of Paris and scheduled to open in early May, are key to achieving the goal of bathing in rivers.

The quality of the water will depend mainly on the weather. In the event of heavy rain in the days before the Olympic events, these could be postponed or cancelled, as already happened during a rehearsal scheduled last August.