With just over a month until the Olympics begin, pollution levels in Paris’ River Seine remain too dangerous for Olympic athletes to compete, according to a city monitoring report.
of Report finds elevated levels of E. coli Routine samples taken at several points along the Seine between June 10 and 16 contained toxins that are indicators of fecal matter.
During the Olympics, Paris plans to have athletes compete on the Seine River. Marathon swimming and Triathlon EventThe first event, the men’s triathlon, is scheduled for July 30th. According to the Associated Press.
To make this possible, Paris has spent about $1.5 billion cleaning up the city’s aging sewer system, which drains water into the river during heavy rains. But a new report suggests those efforts may not have been enough.
The International Olympic Committee and Paris 2024, the local organizing body in Paris, did not immediately respond to inquiries from NBC News.
Last year, test events for triathlon and marathon swimming were held on the Seine. Designed to ensure the Olympic Games run smoothly — The service was halted in August after the river failed pollution tests.
Weather can play a big role in the Seine’s pollution: Unusual rainfall in May and rainy days last week caused a significant drop in water quality, according to a new report, along with a lack of sunny days and periods of low water flow, which help reduce bacteria.
“The sun inactivates bacteria,” says Helena Solo-Gabriel, a professor in the University of Miami’s Department of Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering.
Solo-Gabriele added that if fecal matter in the water where athletes swim exceeds safety standards, it could cause gastrointestinal illness.
The situation on the Seine has been monitored for several months. Non-profit organization Surfrider Foundation Europe It released its own results from six months of testing and found that nearly all samples failed to meet acceptable levels of E. coli and enterococcus, two types of bacteria that scientists typically test for in fecal samples.
“High bacteria counts mean there’s too much waste in the water, and waste carries bacteria that can make people sick,” says Daniel Nyzgorski, an ecologist who monitors water quality in King County, Washington.
But he added that many people don’t realize that most strains of E. coli are harmless, and studies show that swimming-related illnesses rarely result in hospitalization.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and French President Emmanuel Macron have promised to swim in the Seine to prove its water is clean, but have yet to do so.
Paris is not the first city to face a bacterial problem during the Olympics. AP analysis Levels of viruses and bacteria from fecal contamination at Olympic venues in Rio de Janeiro were found to be 1.7 million times higher than levels considered safe on some U.S. beaches. Brazilian government and IOC officials acknowledged that the water was contaminated but said the sites where athletes were competing met World Health Organization standards. According to the New York Times:.
“There’s a lot of polluted water out there. It’s a problem wherever there’s urbanization and the environment doesn’t have the natural flow that dilutes the bacteria,” Solo-Gabriel said.
Experts said the Olympics bring particular attention to these challenges every four years.
“Hopefully this case will bring attention to the problem of river pollution that we need to address not just for Olympic athletes, but for everyday people,” said Karen Levy, a professor at the University of Washington’s School of Environmental and Occupational Health.
NBC News is a unit of NBCUniversal, which owns U.S. media rights to the Olympics through 2032, including the 2024 Paris Games, which begin July 26.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
