Seine River Opens For Public In First Time In Over A Century

Correction: this article previously cited a $1.5 million cost. The cost was about $1.5 billion, not million.

The Seine River in Paris has reopened for the public to swim in. This marks the first time in over a century that the public is allowed to swim in the river. The plan was announced in 2015 in an effort to clean up the river and make it open to the public for swimming within a decade. Numerous members of the public swam in the river.

“It’s so nice to swim in the heart of the city, especially with the high temperatures we’ve been having lately,” Amine Hocini told CBS News. “I’m surprised because I thought it was going to be cooler and in fact, it’s much warmer than I thought.” According to the BBC, “a few dozen” swimmers arrived when the river opened at 8:00 am local time on Saturday.

The river was home to the open water competition at last summer’s Olympic Games. Numerous swimmers opted to not compete in the open water race while other athletes who did compete reported illnesses after the race.

In preparation for the Olympics, about $1.5 billion US dollars were spent in an effort to clean up the river. Still, numerous training days were canceled while events such as the triathlon were postponed to due high levels of bacteria such as E. Coli.

The river opened this weekend and features three designated areas in which the public can swim in the river. Anyone swimming in the river wears a yellow buoy for safety reasons. The designated areas will remain open until August 31st for the public. The minimum age to swim is 10 or 14, based on the location.