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STORY: Would you swim in the Seine river?

“I think I'd come out dirtier if I bathed in it."

“I would like to see a couple of people do it first and then and then I would try it."

With the 2024 Olympic Games fast approaching, Paris wants to make the Seine swimmable again.

Let's take a look at how.

In 1900, the Seine river hosted its first Olympic Games.

Location: Paris, France

It has become a lot dirtier since then: trash and plastic bottles are often seen floating along the river.

Now, for its 2024 Olympics, the city wants to clean it up.

(Bastien Coignon, Kayaker)

"With the Olympics, we know that the water will get cleaner and cleaner, it's great"

That's the long-term project of Fluidion CEO, Dan Angelescu.

Since 2017, he has been working with the city of Paris on making the Seine swimmable.

To do so, he regularly tests the river's water quality.

(Dan Angelescu, Fluidion CEO)

"We're measuring two fecal indicator bacteria E. coli and enterococci. They both come from fecal matter so their presence indicates contamination and the level of concentration of these bacteria allows us to know whether it's safe to bathe in the water or not.”

The challenge is to maintain those levels.

(Dan Angelescu, Fluidion CEO)

"The biggest polluter of the Seine River are the big rain events which bring a lot of untreated sewage in the water through combined sewer overflows."

To avoid the overflow, the city is building a massive underground basin.

The Austerlitz basin will be able to collect over 1.7 million cubic feet of rainfall or the equivalent of 20 Olympic pools.

Another part of the plan is to complete the switch of some homes upstream, from an old set-up discharging wastewater into the river to a brand new connection to the sewer system.

Paris hopes to reap the benefits beyond the Olympics and make the river swimmable for all by 2025.

Colombe Brossel is a deputy mayor in charge of public space and waste reduction.

(Colombe Brossel, deputy mayor in charge of public space and waste reduction)

"Our main goal it is after, we'll have the opportunity to go and swim in the Seine river in Paris and in all the cities around Paris."