Paris "Swim in the Seine"... Possible for the First Time in 100 Years

Water Purification Efforts Gain Momentum Ahead of Paris Olympics
Allowed for the First Time in 100 Years Since Entry Ban in 1923

Swimming will be possible in the Seine River, which runs through Paris, France, starting in 2025. This marks the end of a 100-year ban on entering the water due to water quality deterioration. The City of Paris has invested 2 trillion won in a large-scale purification project ahead of next year's Olympic Games.

On the 9th (local time), according to the French daily Le Parisien and the German dpa news agency, Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, issued a statement designating three areas of the Seine as swimming zones, set to open in 2025. The swimming zones are located in the Seine River near ?le Saint-Louis, Grenelle Darry, and Bercy, all situated in the heart of Paris.

On the 9th (local time), after Anne Hidalgo, the Mayor of Paris, France, announced that swimming in the Seine River would be allowed starting in 2025, citizens were seen swimming in the Seine River.
[Photo by AFP·Yonhap News]

The City of Paris will install buoys to mark the swimming zones and provide showers and changing rooms along the riverbank to accommodate visitors. Swimmers will enter the swimming zones via separate docks. Additionally, Paris plans to use the Seine River as the venue for the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics and to hold the triathlon events in the river.

Being able to swim again in the Seine has been a long-standing wish of Parisians. When the Olympics were first held in Paris in 1900, swimming competitions took place in the Seine.

Swimming in the Seine Banned in 1923 Due to Water Quality Deterioration

As industrialization led to worsening water quality in the Seine, swimming was officially banned in 1923. Until the early 1960s, a few people occasionally jumped into the Seine, but after that, visits ceased entirely.

France began paying attention to the Seine's water quality in the 1970s. Since then, water quality has steadily improved, and the variety of fish species has noticeably increased. Notably, former French President Jacques Chirac, who was Mayor of Paris in the late 1980s, promised to clean the Seine and declared in 1990 that swimming in the Seine would be possible within three years, but this promise was not fulfilled.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo is taking commemorative photos with swimmers after announcing plans to allow swimming in the Seine River in 2025 on the 9th (local time).
[Photo by AFP·Yonhap News]

However, Paris used the Seine as part of its bid to host the Olympics. Mayor Hidalgo proposed the idea of cleaning the river to use it for the opening ceremony and swimming events.

To this end, Paris has invested 1.4 billion euros (approximately 2 trillion won) over the past seven years in installing sewage treatment plants and cracking down on wastewater discharge as part of a major Seine River purification project. As a result, last year's water quality tests showed a significant reduction in the levels of waterborne bacteria, making swimming possible.

Mayor Hidalgo posted a video on her Twitter account showing Paris deputy mayors simultaneously entering the Seine, saying, "Thanks to the Olympics, swimming in the Seine will be possible in 2025," and added, "The deputy mayors jumped into the river for the first time, and soon it will be my turn and yours."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.