Parisians will once again be able to swim in the Seine this summer, city officials said Friday, building on the success of last year's historic reopening of the river after a century-long ban and a massive clean-up effort ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Swimmers will for the second year be able to cool off at designated points along the Seine river in Paris this summer, authorities said Friday, as well as along the Marne river in the suburbs.
In Paris, the swimming season was to open at three official bathing sites on July 4, the mayor's office said.
The Seine reopened to swimmers last summer for the first time in a century, after Paris poured more than a billion euros ($1.15 billion) into a years-long effort to making the waters clean enough to use in the 2024 Olympics.
Sites this year will again include the Bras de Grenelle near the Eiffel Tower, the Bras Marie – a short walk from Notre-Dame – and Bercy, on the eastern side.
Some 100,000 people last year queued to jump in, the city said, despite a slow start to the season with rain disrupting the water quality.
Some 50,000 swimmers jumped into the Marne river in the eastern suburbs last year.
The bathing spots in Joinville-le-Pont, Champigny-sur-Marne, Saint-Maur-des-Fosses and Maison-Alfort would again welcome swimmers. A fifth spot would be added this year at Neuilly-sur-Marne northeast of Paris.
French authorities warned against swimming in parts of the rivers without lifeguards.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
