Seine is unsafe for Olympics thanks to E.coli, says charity

A FRENCH water charity has issued a stern warning about “alarming” levels of pollution in the Seine, where several Olympic events are set to be held, barely 100 days before the Games begin.

The Surfrider Foundation said it had taken 14 samples from the river over a six-month period and that the water was polluted and potentially dangerous in all but one test.

In an open letter, the Biarritz-based charity said it “wanted to share with stakeholders its rising concerns about the quality of the Seine but also the risks faced by athletes moving in contaminated water”.

Paris authorities are struggling to clean up the river before the start of the Olympics on July 26. The waterway will be the backdrop for the opening ceremony and will be used for marathon swimming events and the triathlon.

Surfrider said tests had been carried out by the laboratory Eau de Paris and environmental analysis group Analy-co from September to March underneath the bridges Alexandre-iii and l’alma, where the events are set to take place.

Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Anne Hidalgo, Paris’s mayor, have said they are willing to plunge into the Seine to show they are good sports ahead of the event. But Surfrider said its measurements had shown levels of two bacteria – E.coli and enterococci – were often double and sometimes three times higher than the maximum European permitted amounts. The presence of the bacteria indicates the presence of faecal matter.

Marc Valmassoni, the NGO’S campaign coordinator, told France Info radio: “In health terms, [bathers] are exposed to illnesses such as gastro-enteritis, conjunctivitis, ear infections and skin problems.”

Olympics organisers and Paris authorities are banking on a major new storm water facility slated to be inaugurated later this month to help bring down pollution levels, while sewage connections for river boats are continuing to be built.

They also point out the “alarming” pollution levels were recorded over the winter, one of the wettest in 30 years. Heavy rainfall is known to overwhelm Paris’s sewage system, leading to direct discharges into the river.

About €1.4 billion (£1.2 billion) has been spent upgrading sewage and storm water treatment facilities in the Paris region over the last decade to improve the quality of the Seine as well as its main tributary, the Marne.

Cleaning up the Seine is intended to be one of the key legacy achievements of the Paris 2024 Olympics.