Parisians are still hesitant to take a dip in the Seine despite the massive €1billion clean-up operation organised for the Olympics, MailOnline has learned.
Locals said they still believed the river to be ‘dirty’ and dismissed the idea of a swim as ‘crazy s**t’ when asked, amid concerns about the water quality in the capital.
It came as the men’s triathlon event was postponed due to poor water quality, after tests in the river ‘did not provide sufficient guarantees’ for the event to go ahead.
While the World Triathlon said the water quality had improved, it was forced to set the event back to Wednesday in the latest blow to organisers after an uneasy start to the Games marred by poor weather and criticism over the opening ceremony.
France spent more than €1billion (£840,000) on cleaning up the river in preparation for the Games, but locals remain unconvinced the water is safe to swim.
Frah, singer of Shaka Ponk, told MailOnline he thought the idea of a dip in the river was ‘crazy’
Unequivocally, he said he would not swim in the river – despite the efforts to clean it up
Training sessions for the Olympic triathlon event in Paris have been cancelled in recent days
MailOnline spoke with Shaka Ponk singer Frah in the French capital as the event was set back over concerns about water quality.
Asked whether he would swim in the river, he said: ‘No, it’s crazy s**t.’
‘I think it’s dirty.’
Asked what might be living in the river, a second person said: ‘Everything which is dirty – rats living inside.’
He added that he would consider swimming in the river for a million dollars.
Others were more convinced, showing faith in the efforts of the local administration to make the river safe to swim.
”I think it’s quite clean,’ a third person told MailOnline.
‘Pollution was not a huge focus for Paris. Now it is.
‘We have to be happy for this. What the city did for its people.’
Paris has spent a small fortune trying to clean up the river running through the capital ahead of the Olympics.
This included building an enormous reservoir to capture excess rainwater and keep waste from flowing into the river.
Before the renovation efforts, swimming in the Seine had been banned for a full century because of how dirty it was.
Pierre Rabadan, Deputy Mayor of Paris in charge of the Olympics, heralded the clean-up operation at the time as ‘our contribution to the future’.
‘When people see athletes swimming in the Seine with no health problems, they’ll be confident themselves to start going back in the Seine,’ he said.
Another local had a look at the water with MailOnline and said it was still full of dirty things
But for a million pounds? Perhaps some could be swayed to enter the water
The operation was a colossal effort, taking huge strides towards improving water quality – and reviving hopes improvement was possible, after Jacques Chirac, then Mayor, failed to make the river clean enough to swim in in 1990.
But despite the improvements, heavy rain in the days before a competition can still cause the levels of harmful E. coli bacteria to rise.
Heavy rainfall can trigger problems with wastewater and water speed.
In April a French water charity found ‘alarming levels of pollution’, sparking fears that the river would not be ready in time.
The Surfrider Foundation took 14 samples from the Seine over a six-month period and found the water to be potentially dangerous in all but one of their tests.
The measurements of E. coli and enterococci – bacteria which indicate the presence of faecal matter and which can cause serious illnesses – were found to be double and at times triple the maximum permitted amounts.
And over the weekend Tony Estanguet, the Paris 2024 chief, told a press conference he was still ‘very confident’ that swimming in the Seine would take place.
But results on Friday showed that the river feted for its romantic views is still failing water quality tests.
Parisians had threatened to defecate in the river in protest against the French government on June 23 but it is unclear if any such acts were performed.
Many are angry so much money has been spent on cleaning it, seemingly to little effect.
President Emmanuel Macron and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo vowed that they would swim in the river to prove its safeness, as the row threatens to undermine confidence in the organisers.
Swimming training for the triathletes was cancelled on Sunday and Monday and the decision has been taken to move the men’s race, which had been due to start at 8am local time on Tuesday, to Wednesday.
A statement from World Triathlon said the coming Friday remains a contingency day if one or both of the races are unable to go ahead.
‘Tests carried out in the Seine today revealed water quality did not provide sufficient guarantees to allow the event to be held,’ read the statement.
‘Despite the improvement in the water quality levels, the readings at some points of the swim course are still above the acceptable limits.’
Open-water swimmer Leah Crisp revealed last week that she and her competitors were concerned about the race taking place in the River Seine, hoping there is a ‘plan B’.
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