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By Jesus Mesa
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A $1.5 billion initiative to revitalize Paris' ancient sewer system and make the Seine river swimmable for the 2024 Summer Olympics has all but collapsed, raising doubts about the river's readiness for swimming competitions.
Concerns about the river's cleanliness led to the postponement of the men's triathlon on Tuesday. Officials hope the swimming portion of the event can soon proceed following the expensive cleanup effort.
Organizers plan to hold the men's triathlon on Wednesday instead. The women's competition is also scheduled for the same day, but both events will only happen if water tests show acceptable levels of E. coli and other bacteria. Friday is the backup date.
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Heavy rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast from Tuesday night through Thursday, which could complicate the rescheduling. Rain, like the downpour that dampened Friday's Opening Ceremony, generally causes bacteria levels in the Seine to rise.
"It's disappointing that there's this negative aspect now with the delay," American triathlete Seth Rider told the Associated Press. "But I hope we can have a triathlon, and I can accomplish this dream that I've had since I was a little kid."
Swimming has been off-limits in the long-polluted Seine for more than a century. In preparation for the Games, the city promised to clean its famed river to demonstrate that hosting the Olympics would provide benefits to skeptical Parisians.
The city invested millions in building a giant basin to capture excess rainwater and prevent untreated waste from flowing into the Seine, renovating the sewage system, and upgrading water treatment plants.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has been a vocal advocate for the cleanup, even taking a symbolic swim in the Seine to demonstrate her confidence in the project's success.
"Our objective is an Olympic legacy," said Pierre Rabadan, the deputy mayor overseeing the project. "That you and I or whoever happens to be in Paris can swim in the Seine."
Swimming could be scrapped
Despite those best efforts, Mother Nature intervened at the worst possible time, delivering torrential rain to central Paris all day on Friday, before and during the Opening ceremony and persisting into Saturday. Training events meant to let the triathletes familiarize themselves with the course were canceled on both Sunday and Monday due to water quality concerns.
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Organizers had expressed confidence in recent days that bacteria levels would improve as skies cleared and temperatures warmed this week, but that was not sufficient to ensure the athletes' safety on Tuesday.
"Despite the improvement in water quality levels in the last hours, the readings at some points of the swim course are still above the acceptable limits," organizers said, stressing that their "priority is the health of the athletes."
If the river isn't safe for swimming after continued delays, that part of the race would be scrapped and only the cycling and running portions would go forward. Something similar happened last year at the European Championships in Madrid, when the triathlon format was switched due to water quality issues in the Casa de Campo lake.
Daily water quality tests measure E. coli levels, which indicate sewage contamination. While most E. coli strains are harmless and live in the intestines of healthy people and animals, some can be dangerous. Swallowing contaminated water can cause diarrhea and illnesses like urinary tract or intestinal infections.
World Triathlon, the international governing body for the multi-discipline sport, has water safety guidelines that, along with a 2006 European Union directive, set the safe limit for E. coli at 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters. On Tuesday, one of the four test sites was below this threshold. However, two sites were just above the limit, and one site had much higher levels, ranging from 980 to 1,553.
Some experts and residents remain skeptical. A recent poll by the French market-research firm Ifop found that 70% of respondents viewed the Seine negatively, describing it as dirty, polluted and smelly.
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