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Swimming in Seine? UGH says NY Times report!


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Uh-oh.  The trials and travails of cleaning up the Seine for next year's use.  The strangest situation is that, ironically, if it rains that is when the water will be the most unhealthy, so . . .  Leave it to the French to endanger their own Games!!  :wacko:

Plus, of course, 120+ barges will ply a 6.5km course on Opening Day thanks to the genius of its CEO!  Now, unless all those barges are outfitted with BRAND-NEW engines, exhaust systems, etc., I don't see how the organizers and the City of Paris will address the problem??   The stupiidity of Estanguet just seems to get bigger each day as Opening approaches!! 

Olympic Swimming in the Seine? How Paris Is Remaking a River. - The New York Times (nytimes.com) 

A portion of the article if you can't get in  . . . 

 

Quote

Surface Tension

Inside the Paris city limits, it’s not houses workers are targeting, but boats. Some 170 are moored along the banks of the Seine upstream of the Olympic sites. Until recently, almost all dumped their sewage directly into the river.

In 2018, the city declared that all boats needed to be connected to the city’s sewage system, and the port authority began the expensive process of installing sewage connections and pumps in the ports that didn’t have them. Water dwellers were given two years to put in coupling wastewater collection systems in their boats.

 
 
 
Image
 

 Hervé Lavollée in the cabin of his houseboat in central Paris.

 
 

Hervé Lavollée stands in the cabin of his houseboat with his right hand on a giant steering wheel. The Seine and the city lights of Paris can be seen behind him.

To date, only around half have done the work, according to city employees.

Many boat owners have complained that they are being unfairly targeted. Unlike their terrestrial neighbors, they were not offered a choice, and retrofitting old boats can cost as much as 25,000 euros — five times what the government offers in grants.

“Do you think the boat park 30 kilometers from Paris will be connecting to a wastewater system?” said Hervé Lavollée, who lives on a retrofitted 1937 barge moored near a pedestrian bridge in the heart of Paris. “They make noise on all this for the 8 p.m. news so they look like they are doing a lot, but it’s ridiculous.”

Nicolas Londinsky, the director of water and sewage systems in Paris, acknowledges that the boats’ pollution is comparatively small, but says it could make the difference between a passing water-quality test at a nearby swim area and a failing one. “If we really want to improve the water quality, we have to do everything,” he said.
 

 

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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