Even before he has dipped his toes into the murky waters of 91裸聊视频� famous but forbidden River Seine, French triathlete Thibaut Rigaudeau is already fielding questions from disbelieving friends.
91裸聊视频淎re you scared of swimming in the Seine?91裸聊视频� he says they ask him. 91裸聊视频淚t looks disgusting.91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频�
For decades, it was. Though immortalized in art, literature and song, and cherished by lovers who whisper sweet nothings or tearfully part on the privacy of its banks, the river was ecologically dying. It was too toxic for most fish and for swimmers, largely useful only as a waterway for goods and people or as a watery grave for discarded bicycles and other trash. Swimming in the Seine has, with some exceptions, been off-limits since 1923.
Now, however, its admittedly unappetizing green-brown waters hide a tale of rebirth.
A costly and complex cleanup is resuscitating the Seine just in time for it to play a starring role in the and, after that, for it to genuinely live up to its billing as the world91裸聊视频檚 most romantic river, one that91裸聊视频檚 actually fit again for people. And in a warming world, a renewed ability to take cooling dips in the river should help France91裸聊视频檚 capital remain liveable during . It possibly might also inspire other cities to invest in reclaiming their waterways.
91裸聊视频淚t will create waves, so to speak, across the world because a lot of cities are watching Paris,91裸聊视频� says Dan Angelescu, a scientist who is tracking the Seine91裸聊视频檚 water quality for City Hall, with regular sampling.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 the beginning of a movement,91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淲e hope so, at least.91裸聊视频�
The Olympic deadline has supercharged a cleanup that has been decades in the making. Without the imperative of having to be ready for 10,500 Olympians in July and August next year, followed by 4,400 Paralympians, City Hall officials say it would have taken many more years to fund the multi-pronged, 1.4 billion-euro ($1.5 billion) effort. Because as well as hosting outdoor swim races, the Seine is going to be the centerpiece of Paris91裸聊视频� . For the first time, it will take place not in a stadium setting but along the river and its banks.
So it needs to be ready. Officials have been going after homes upstream of Paris and houseboats on the Seine that were emptying their sewage and wastewater directly into the river. An Olympic law adopted in 2018 gave moored boats two years to hook up to Paris91裸聊视频� sewage network. Sewage treatment plants on the Seine and its tributary, the Marne, are also being improved.
And more than half a billion euros (dollars) is going into huge storage basins and other public works that will reduce the need to spill bacteria-laden wastewater into the Seine untreated when it rains. One storage facility is being dug next to Paris91裸聊视频� Austerlitz train station. The giant hole will hold the equivalent of 20 Olympic swimming pools of dirty water that will now be treated rather than being spat raw through storm drains in the river.
City Hall says the water quality is already improving and that there are many more types of fish than the two or three species that were the only ones hardy enough to survive in the filth a few decades ago. It says samples taken daily last July and August in the stretch of river where Olympians and Paralympians will compete showed the water quality was overwhelmingly 91裸聊视频済ood.91裸聊视频� By their sports91裸聊视频� standards, that means acceptable.
Setting off from the Seine91裸聊视频檚 ornate Alexandre III bridge, triathletes will race first in 2024, with men on July 30, followed by women the next day. Then come marathon swimmers, on Aug. 8 and 9, and para-triathletes on Sept. 1 and 2.
Rigaudeau, who competed in para-triathlon at the 2021 Tokyo games, is thrilled by the prospect. He91裸聊视频檚 hoping for an early taste of the experience when Paris hosts warm-up swims in the Seine this summer to hone its readiness for 2024. It will be Rigaudeau91裸聊视频檚 first-ever dip in his home river.
91裸聊视频淲e will be the 91裸聊视频榯esters,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淚 hope we don91裸聊视频檛 get sick.91裸聊视频�
After the games, the river should then reopen to everyone 91裸聊视频� in the summer of 2025. City Hall says five potential bathing spots are being studied within Paris itself, with others a bit further afield.
Officials hope that after so many years where swimming in the Seine was unthinkable, Parisians will start to feel that it91裸聊视频檚 safe to go back in the water when they see Olympians and Paralympians leading the way.
91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 going to change our lives,91裸聊视频� Rigaudeau says. 91裸聊视频淏ut it91裸聊视频檚 also true that because everyone thinks that it91裸聊视频檚 really very dirty, I91裸聊视频檓 not sure if people will go of their own accord, at least at first.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频擩ohn Leicester, The Associated Press
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