04/11/2023

Paris' River Seine Being Cleaned for Olympics

A costly cleanup is resuscitating the Seine in time for the 2024 Paris Olympics

Even before he has dipped his toes into the murky waters of Paris' famous but forbidden River Seine, French triathlete Thibaut Rigaudeau is already fielding questions from disbelieving friends.

"Are you scared of swimming in the Seine?" he says they ask him. “It looks disgusting."

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.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WBNS-10TV.