PARIS – Organisers of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris may be feeling a little queasy over their commitment to hold open water swimming in the scenic but often polluted Seine.

Last August, the marathon swimming test events were cancelled because the water was too dirty, as were the swimming legs on two of the four days of triathlon and para-triathlon tests.

The city of Paris has insisted “there is no plan B”.

In 1990, when he was mayor before becoming French president, Jacques Chirac promised the river would “soon” be clean enough in which to swim and that he would celebrate by taking a dip. He never did.

The current mayor, Anne Hidalgo, a vigorous promoter of green initiatives, has also promised she will take the plunge before the Olympics start and that the public will be allowed to swim at three locations by 2025. She has yet to get her feet wet.

City officials argue that the quality of the water has improved, but none of the samples collected between June and September 2023 met minimum European standards for swimming.

The big problem is faecal matter. The bacteria in the water increases sharply when heavy rain sweeps debris and untreated wastewater into the river from the banks and the overflowing drains and sewers.

The city tests the water at 14 points. In 2022, three of them were judged to be “sufficient” but had deteriorated by last summer.

The open-water swimming last August was cancelled after heavy rain sent E. coli readings to six times the target level set by World Aquatics.

Paris city officials insisted they had “learnt” from the sampling problems at the test events.

The national and local authorities are also investing €1.4 billion (S$2.04 billion) in five projects designed to clean the water.

The weather remains the “main risk”, acknowledges the Paris town hall, which fears “exceptional rainfall”.

The only back-up plan for the swimming is postponing the events by a few days.

“There is no solution to move the event, the triathlon and open water swimming will be held in the Seine next year,” Tony Estanguet, Paris 2024 organising committee, said after the cancellations last August.

For the athletes, these are the Olympics and dirty water is a constant risk in open-water competitions.

At the end of the test event in 2019 ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, swimmers protested against the quality of the water in Tokyo Bay. Before the Rio Olympics in 2016, the polluted Guanabara Bay made headlines.

“A glittering setting,” Italian double world champion Gregorio Paltrinieri told Italian media in January.

“Even if the water is dirty, I would rather swim in an electric atmosphere in the centre of Paris than in an anonymous stretch of water.”

After winning silver at the world championships in Qatar earlier in February, Frenchman Marc-Antoine Olivier said he was excited by the venue.

“People may be afraid of what’s in the water, but swimming in a historic place is going to be incredible,” he said. AFP