Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo, took a swim in the Seine River early Wednesday, alongside the head of the Paris Olympics organizing committee, Tony Estanguet, to demonstrate the water’s cleanliness ahead of the upcoming Olympic Games.
Following their swim, Hidalgo remarked that the water appeared clean. Recent findings from a study suggest that water quality at Olympic swimming sites would be suitable for swimming six out of the seven days of the events.
Decisions regarding the running of Olympic events will be made the night before the events, based on daily assessments of water quality.
“We have worked very, very hard and then you go down into the water and it seems natural,” Hidalgo said after the swim. “The water is very, very good, a little bit cool.”
The city has constructed a large storage basin with a capacity of 46,000 cubic meters to hold wastewater before it is directed through a tunnel to a treatment plant. Once the water meets the necessary health standards, it will be discharged into the Seine River.
