PARIS: Mayor Anne Hidalgo called for the city’s celebrated river Seine to be cleaned up and made safe for swimming as part of its bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
The mayor said on Tuesday that she would like to see some of the swimming events staged in Seine, and for parts of the river opened up for public use. “I want swimming in the Seine to be made possible by 2024,” she said, adding that preparations for the Olympic bid presented a historic opportunity to improve environmental protections, transport and accommodation in the city.
Hidalgo said that she hoped to see the swimming stage of the triathlon and the 10-kilometre open water event staged in Seine.
The quality of the capital’s famed waterway has improved in recent years, but sewage pipes still spew 2.5 million cubic metres of waste every year into the river, which is also polluted by effluents from factories upstream.