By Le Figaro with AFP
Posted 2 hours ago, Updated 2 hours ago
A Fluidion employee takes a sample of water from the Seine to test its quality, ahead of the swimming test event. BERTRAND GUAY / AFP
The swimming test event had been canceled in the Seine, the quality of the water being deemed “below acceptable standards” due to pollution of the river.
The water quality of the Seine was finally sufficient on Sunday to authorize the pre-Olympic Games swimming test, canceled due to pollution of the river, but the results of the official analyzes were not known until Monday, said the mayor of Paris to AFP. “The lab result arrived today (Monday) confirmed that Sunday morning we were below the thresholds at all reading points“Located on the Olympic route, between the Alexandre-III bridge and the Alma bridge, sports assistant Pierre Rabadan told AFP.
On Sunday, the international swimming federation, World Aquatics, announced the cancellation of an open water swimming World Cup event in the same place, a prefiguration of the Olympic event which is to be held there in a year. due to water qualitybelow acceptable standards“. The last water analysis dating back to 24 hours, carried out on the night of Friday to Saturday, was established at 1,300 (CFU / 100 ml) for the bacterium Escherichia Coli, while World Aquatics imposes a rate lower than 1,000 CFU for 100 ml for holding the competition.
Persistent rains caused sewers to overflow and back sewage into the river
In question: the persistent rains earlier in the week, which made the sewers overflow and brought the wastewater back into the river. The instantaneous readings carried out by the town hall showed many results “below 1,000” more “they are not part of the analysis process of the international federation“, which is based on laboratory readings known 24 hours later, explained Pierre Rabadan.
According to the town hall, these official readings finally gave 911 UFC/100 ml. “The delay in direct debits» thus got the better of the event, laments Pierre Rabadan. A new disappointment during the triathlon test, scheduled for August 17 to 20, would be worrying for the organizing committee of the Paris Olympics, but also for the mayor Anne Hidalgo who promises future swimming in the Seine for 2025.
Several projects are underway to prevent the discharge of wastewater into the river, which occurs in the event of heavy rains. “Without a doubt, if the works had been ready (…), there would have been no problem“, emphasizes Mr. Rabadan.
