The enduring River Seine has reopened to swimmers in Paris, permitting folks to take a dip within the French capital’s waterway for the primary time in a minimum of a century after a greater than billion-euro cleanup challenge that made it appropriate for Olympic competitions final yr.
A number of dozen folks arrived forward of the 8am (06:00 GMT) opening on Saturday on the Bras Marie zone within the metropolis’s historic centre, diving into the water for the long-awaited second underneath the watchful eyes of lifeguards carrying fluorescent yellow T-shirts and carrying whistles.
It was additionally a welcome respite from the scorching warmth enveloping the town this week. Parisians and vacationers alike, seeking to cool off this summer time, can dive in – climate allowing – at three bathing websites: one near Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral, one other close to the Eiffel Tower and a 3rd in jap Paris.
The swimming zones are outfitted with altering rooms, showers and beach-style furnishings, providing house for 150 to 300 swimmers.
The seasonal opening of the Seine for swimming is seen as a key legacy of the Paris 2024 Olympics, when open-water swimmers and triathletes competed in its waters, which had been specifically cleaned for the occasion.
“It’s a childhood dream to have folks swimming within the Seine,” mentioned Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who visited the bras Marie website on Saturday morning.
However officers reminded swimmers of potential risks, together with sturdy currents, boat visitors and a mean depth of three.5 metres (11 ft).
“The Seine stays a harmful setting,” mentioned native official Elise Lavielle earlier this week.
To mitigate that threat, lifeguards will assess guests’ swimming skills earlier than permitting unbiased entry, whereas a decree issued in late June launched fines for anybody swimming exterior designated areas.
The promise to carry the swimming ban dates again to 1988, when then-mayor of Paris and future President Jacques Chirac first advocated for its reversal, about 65 years after the apply was banned in 1923.
“One in every of my predecessors (Chirac), then mayor of Paris, dreamed of a Seine the place everybody may swim,” President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X, describing the transfer as the results of a “collective effort” and a second of “pleasure” for France.
L’un de mes prédécesseurs, alors Maire de Paris, a rêvé d’une Seine où chacun pourrait nager. Demain sa promesse sera tenue.
C’est un héritage des Jeux olympiques et paralympiques de Paris après 100 ans d’interdiction, un travail collectif, une fierté pour le pays.
Merci… pic.twitter.com/KhymFPgIy1
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) July 4, 2025
Forward of the Olympic Video games, authorities invested roughly 1.4 billion euros ($1.6bn) to enhance the Seine’s water high quality.
Since then, work carried out upstream, together with 2,000 new connections to the sewage system, guarantees even higher water high quality – with an unappetising catch.
On wet days, the mid-Nineteenth-century Parisian sewage system usually overflows, inflicting rain and wastewater to pour into the river.
Flags will inform bathers about air pollution ranges within the water day-after-day, and if it rains, the websites will possible shut the day after, mentioned Paris metropolis official Pierre Rabadan.
The presence of the faecal micro organism Escherichia coli (E coli) and enterococci within the Seine will probably be assessed day by day utilizing reside sensors and samples.
A refuge from the new climate
Various climate circumstances will probably be a essential issue. Swimmers could also be in luck this yr, although, with temperatures predicted to be drier than the report rainfall throughout the video games, which had led to the cancellation of six of the 11 competitions held on the river.
With record-breaking warmth hitting Europe, together with France’s second warmest June since data started in 1900, authorities mentioned they count on Parisians to embrace the aid of a refreshing swim.
Some scepticism concerning the water high quality stays, nonetheless.
Dan Angelescu, founder and CEO of Fluidion, a Paris and Los Angeles-based water monitoring tech firm, has routinely and independently examined bacterial ranges within the Seine for a number of years. Regardless of being in keeping with present laws, the official water-testing methodology has limitations and undercounts the micro organism, he mentioned.
“What we see is that the water high quality within the Seine is extremely variable,” Angelescu mentioned. “There are only some days in a swimming season the place I’d say water high quality is appropriate for swimming.”
Some Parisians are additionally hesitant concerning the thought of swimming within the Seine. The sensation is usually bolstered by the water’s murky color, floating litter and a number of vacationer boats in some locations.
Hidalgo, who took an inaugural swim last year, mentioned that cleansing up the Seine for the Olympics was not the ultimate purpose however a part of a broader effort to adapt the town to local weather change and improve high quality of life.
The swimming spots will probably be open at no cost till August 31 at scheduled occasions to anybody with a minimal age of 10 or 14 years, relying on the situation.
