Bras Marie, Grenelle and Bercy… The general public will be able to bathe in the Seine at these three Parisian sites from 2025, after the 2024 Olympics which will mark the revival of this ancient practice in the river, announced Sunday the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo .
“Promise kept. We are swimming in the Seine today and this is only the beginning, ”said the elected Socialist, who made this announcement on a summer nautical base fitted out on the right bank, not far from the Hôtel de Ville, between the Bastille and the Ile Saint-Louis.
“Me, I will swim next year”
A group of swimmers jumped into the water, as well as the two assistants Emmanuel Grégoire (urban planning) and Pierre Rabadan (sports). “Me, I will swim next year”, that of the Olympics, committed Anne Hidalgo.
The three bathing areas announced will be fitted out and secured, assures the town hall. “The monitored bodies of water will be delimited by buoys and a pontoon to access them, with spaces for changing, showering and storing your belongings on the quays”, she specifies in a press release.
Like that of Pont Marie (4th century), the site of Grenelle (15th century) will be built on an arm of the Seine, cut by the Isle of Swans where there is a miniature replica of the Statue of Liberty. The third site will be developed under a footbridge crossing the river below Bercy Park (12th century).
The “legacy” of the Olympics
This project will be carried out after the Olympic Games, which will mark the reunion of swimming with the Seine: the triathlon and freestyle events will start from the Alexandre III bridge which connects the Grand Palais to the Invalides.
It is part of the “heritage” of the Olympic Games which should benefit the general public. Since 2016, the State and local authorities in the Ile-de-France have invested around 1.4 billion euros to make the Seine and the Marne swimmable after the sporting event.
Several works to reduce wastewater spills into the river in the event of a storm, or to clean them, and thus ensure sufficient water quality with regard to European regulations, are close to completion.
Are the latest water quality analyzes encouraging?
Individual owners of homes with poor connections, in which sewage and river water are not separated, and those of barges must also undertake work for an evacuation that does not pollute the river.
The latest analyzes of the quality of the water with regard to the regulations, which focuses on two bacteria, Escherichia coli and enterococci, attest to “sufficient” or “excellent” levels in dry weather, assures the town hall.