Swimming in Seine

[baron-pierreIV]

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!!  

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.

 

 

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 July 30, 2024 by Sir Rols

[FYI]

Another Guanabara Bay media hysteria, perhaps?

[Sir Rols]

Well, hardly an auspicious start

Germany win mixed relay at Paris 2024 triathlon test event, switched to duathlon due to water quality issues

Edited August 20, 2023 by Sir Rols

[ulu]

Time to move the event to somewhere with reliably clean water.

[baron-pierreIV]

So, what is Plan B for the open-water swim events if the Seine water is still "un-swimmable" by July 27?   

Where will the triathlon and open-water events be held instead?  

[sebastien1214]

20 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

So, what is Plan B for the open-water swim events if the Seine water is still "un-swimmable" by July 27?   

Where will the triathlon and open-water events be held instead?  

There is no plan B. If the water is too polluted on the day, we postpone it until the next day. If it is still polluted and there are no more days available, then the triathlon will become a "duathlon" and the open water swimming events will be canceled.

All that remains is to pray that we have days when the water is considered clean enough. We'll see what happens, but I still regret that we deliberately didn't want to establish a plan B.

[FYI]

No plan B for the Opening Ceremony. No plan B for the Seine. Seems to be a theme here for Paris 2024, huh. 

[sebastien1214]

7 minutes ago, FYI said:

No plan B for the Opening Ceremony. No plan B for the Seine. Seems to be a theme here for Paris 2024, huh. 

No, there is a plan B (and even a plan C) for the opening ceremony. The problem is that the government and Macron have completely messed up their communication on this subject (pleonasm), but it has existed concretely since December 2023 (or even perhaps earlier; and I am not talking about the simple idea of having a plan B, but of its conceptualization)

[FYI]

Guess your right, cause I keep forgetting that they've talked about a plan B for the OC very late in the game. Cause they were always so insistent up until late last year, that there was no plan B. All the hype about it over the years, I'm just expecting/wanting a show extravaganza (especially after Tokyo 202One).

[sebastien1214]

7 minutes ago, FYI said:

Guess your right, cause I keep forgetting that they've talked about a plan B for the OC very late in the game. Cause they were always so insistent up until late last year, that there was no plan B. All the hype about it over the years, I'm just expecting/wanting a show extravaganza (especially after Tokyo 202One).

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about when I talk about poor communication. Basically the government (& Paris 2024) voluntarily refused to talk about plans B by systematically saying that they only work on the Seine (therefore plan A), then around March-April of this year since people were legitimately worried, the government and Macron did not stop talking about plan B, giving the impression that they had forgotten plan A, and a few days later the government publicly complained about the anxiety-provoking atmosphere around Olympic Games and catastrophic articles while they themselves contributed to this climate with their catastrophic communication...

Fortunately, those who work on this ceremony are much more competent than our government.

[FYI]

But that's just about anything that involves grand plans, though. No one likes to admit failure, or at the very least hear people tell you "I told you so" if things aren't going quite as planned. Even the IOC plays the "nothing to worry about, nothing to see here - No plan B - It's all fake news" game up until the very last minute, or until they can't cover it up any longer.

[Australian Kiwi]

3 hours ago, sebastien1214 said:

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about when I talk about poor communication. Basically the government (& Paris 2024) voluntarily refused to talk about plans B by systematically saying that they only work on the Seine (therefore plan A), then around March-April of this year since people were legitimately worried, the government and Macron did not stop talking about plan B, giving the impression that they had forgotten plan A, and a few days later the government publicly complained about the anxiety-provoking atmosphere around Olympic Games and catastrophic articles while they themselves contributed to this climate with their catastrophic communication...

Fortunately, those who work on this ceremony are much more competent than our government.

This in itself makes me feel very worried that two major stakeholders aren't perceived to be working in lockstep on a highly critical part of the event.

[sebastien1214]

13 minutes ago, Australian Kiwi said:

This in itself makes me feel very worried that two major stakeholders aren't perceived to be working in lockstep on a highly critical part of the event.

No, there are no problems on that side. Roles are clearly defined and Paris 2024 follows what the government tells it to do on security issues. I'm even surprised that everything is going so well from this point of view, to be honest. The problem comes from public communication (and not communication between gov and the organisers), but the distribution of roles is well done and it works quite well. It's just that when we have an egocentric president who wants to make his personal communication about the Olympics and control the communication... (for example, it was Macron's advisors who voluntarily leaked the information on Aya Nakamura to the opening ceremony, and after look at the torrent of racist comments she received.)

[Sir Rols]

1 hour ago, sebastien1214 said:

No, there are no problems on that side. Roles are clearly defined and Paris 2024 follows what the government tells it to do on security issues. I'm even surprised that everything is going so well from this point of view, to be honest. The problem comes from public communication (and not communication between gov and the organisers), but the distribution of roles is well done and it works quite well. It's just that when we have an egocentric president who wants to make his personal communication about the Olympics and control the communication... (for example, it was Macron's advisors who voluntarily leaked the information on Aya Nakamura to the opening ceremony, and after look at the torrent of racist comments she received.)

So basically, too many people wanting to take credit for the good things, and nobody wanting to take responsibility for the goofs.

When are Manu and Hidalgo going for their dip? In a few weeks isn’t it?

[Bear]

did you guys hear that there's people threatening to poop in the river as an act of protest

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/paris-olympics-s-flashmob-french-protest-plans-to-defecate-in-the-seine-over-olympic-cleanup-costs-5762136

[StefanMUC]

10 hours ago, Bear said:

did you guys hear that there's people threatening to poop in the river as an act of protest

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/paris-olympics-s-flashmob-french-protest-plans-to-defecate-in-the-seine-over-olympic-cleanup-costs-5762136

Some people are really full of sh*t, so good to see them getting rid of it finally.

[baron-pierreIV]

12 hours ago, Bear said:

did you guys hear that there's people threatening to poop in the river as an act of protest

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/paris-olympics-s-flashmob-french-protest-plans-to-defecate-in-the-seine-over-olympic-cleanup-costs-5762136

That could've been the "surprise moment" of the OC -- The BIG REVEAL of Estanguet & Jolly!!  Voila --quelle surprise!!   Now, you just went and spoiled it, Bear!!  Mauvais garçon!  Mauvais garçon!

[Sir Rols]

Forget the water quality! There’s a bigger threat in those waters!

‘Under Paris’ review: sacre deep bleu sea! there’s a killer shark in the Seine

With a triathlon scene to boot!

 

[FYI]

Could it be the ultimate ruskie, anti-Olympic weapon?! 

[Cyriln]

The Seine is getting healthier. Analysis results from June 1 to June 9 have been released: bacterial levels were way too high at the beginning of the month but reached acceptable levels on June 9. The flow of the river has also dropped by 30%. If there are no more heavy rains, it should keep getting better.

https://www.paris.fr/pages/meteo-de-la-seine-quelle-est-la-qualite-de-l-eau-du-fleuve-27467

[Sir Rols]

And the Big Dive has been put back to the week of July 15

Paris mayor to take a dip in the Seine the week of 15 July

On 6/2/2024 at 2:29 PM, Bear said:

did you guys hear that there's people threatening to poop in the river as an act of protest

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/paris-olympics-s-flashmob-french-protest-plans-to-defecate-in-the-seine-over-olympic-cleanup-costs-5762136

Guess they’ll have to clench those buttocks a few weeks longer

[sebastien1214]

There you have it, proof that all you need is good weather and that's it, you can swim in the Seine without worries.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/07/04/seine-water-quality-improves-ahead-of-paris-olympics_6676687_7.html

(well, we still need good weather...)

[Sir Rols]

On 6/6/2024 at 4:10 PM, Sir Rols said:

‘Under Paris’ review: sacre deep bleu sea! there’s a killer shark in the Seine

With a triathlon scene to boot!

 

lol! I just watched this (yeah, I know, but I was running out of things to watch on Netflix). It’s silly and corny. I don’t know if I can really recommend it. But it was well done silly and corny and entertaining and fun as all hell to watch. And quite a bit of Olympic backgrounding in it. I don’t think Hidalgo would appreciate the Madame Mayor character.
 

Let’s just say I’ve seen a lot worse and enjoyed this more than many.

[sebastien1214]

Tomorrow !

https://www.lefigaro.fr/sports/jeux-olympiques/jo-paris-2024-la-baignade-en-seine-d-hidalgo-et-estanguet-confirmee-mercredi-matin-20240716

 

[sebastien1214]