After 100 Years and €1.4 Billion Spent on Cleaning the Seine, the French Finally Swim in the River Again

After 100 Years and €1.4 Billion Spent on Cleaning the Seine, the French Finally Swim in the River Again

by

REUTERS/Tom Nicholson

By

Chris Lavergne

Swimming in the Seine was illegal for over 100 years.

This summer, Parisians enter the same waters that Olympic runners race in, no ticket and no reservation required.

Swimmers in the Seine river at the Grenelle public bath in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background
Swimmers enjoy the Grenelle baths on the River Seine in Paris on July 4, 2026, with the Eiffel Tower rising in the background. Photo by Tom Nicholson/Reuters.

It was normal. French diving competitions were held on the Seine as recently as 1913. A wave of drownings and traffic accidents on the river led to a total blockade in 1923, and pollution brought the work to an end.

People swim in an outdoor pool on the Seine river near the Auteuil viaduct in Paris, 1938.
Parisians cool off in an open pool on the Seine near the Auteuil viaduct in August 1938. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.

By 1970 the river was biologically dead, with more than half of its wastewater discharged untreated and its fish population reduced to three resistant species. The 2013 Paris triathlon was canceled because the water was too dangerous for the athletes.

Swimmers in the Deligny pool on the banks of the Seine in Paris, 1946
Swimmers cool off in the Deligny pool near the Seine in Paris during a heat wave in June 1946. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.

Turning has a mascot. On November 28, 1988, then-mayor Jacques Chirac promised to swim in the Seine in 1994 to prove it was clean. He didn’t, and the pledge became a running joke that passed him by. Anne Hidalgo renovated it in 2016 to secure the city’s Olympic bid, and the subsequent cleanup cost around 1.4 billion euros and connected thousands of riverside buildings for the first time.

Swimmers in the Seine river at the Bras Marie baths in Paris
Parisians board at Bras Marie, one of three free swimming pools that have just opened along the Seine, on July 4, 2026. Photo by Romain Perrocheau / AFP via Getty Images.

The centerpiece is a concrete cylinder excavated near Gare d’Austerlitz, 50 meters wide and 30 meters deep, holding 50,000 cubic meters of storm water, about 20 Olympic pools. Haussmann’s Paris sewers combined rainwater and waste water in the same pipes, so heavy rain often sent overflows into the river.

People swim in the Seine River near the Pont d'Iéna in Paris during a heat wave in June 1946.
Parisians cool off in the Seine near the Pont d’Iéna during the heatwave of June 1946 – this same space is now open to public swimmers. Photo via AFP/Getty Images.

Officials say major sewage overflows have dropped from about 15 a year to about 2. That work made the river clean enough to host the Olympic triathlon and marathon swimming events.

Wide shot of the Grenelle supervised swimming pool near the banks of the Seine river in Paris's 15th arrondissement, with a platform and marked swimming areas.
A wide view of the Grenelle swimming pool along the Seine in Paris’s 15th arrondissement on July 4, 2026, where marked areas, a platform, and security personnel are in place as part of the Paris en Seine program. Photo by Benjamin Vodant / AFP via Getty Images.
Two young women sunbathe on the right bank of the Seine River in Paris in the summer of 1945
On a sunny summer day in 1945, two Parisian girls are relaxing on the right bank of the Seine River. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.

The three free areas opened for their second season on July 4. Bercy on the 12th is the largest, with two pools (one up to 67 meters), a wooden area, showers, lockers, and a room for about 600 people, across the water from the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Bras Marie sits under the Pont Louis-Philippe near Notre-Dame. Bras de Grenelle on the Left Bank has direct views of the Eiffel Tower and the quarter-scale Statue of Liberty across the water; will host the open water and high dive events of the European Swimming Championships later this month, the first time Paris has hosted the competition since 1931.

People swim in the River Seine at the Bercy public swimming pool in Paris
Swimmers take to the River Seine in the Bercy area of ​​Paris on July 5, 2026, during the second year the waterway has been open to the public. Photo by Tom Nicholson/REUTERS.

Lifeguards from the French Swimming Federation are on duty around the clock, and the city checks the water every day and posts a live update to paris.fr. Green means open, yellow means caution, red means closed, which happens after heavy rain when E. coli jumps. The system is flawless: last July the green flag flew for only 18 days out of 31 at some sites.

Aerial view of a dozen swimmers in the Seine River, most of them wearing or holding yellow buoyancy belts, with dark flowing water around them.
Seen above, swimmers wearing mandatory yellow flotation belts wade into the Seine at the Bras-Marie baths in Paris on July 5, 2026. Photo by Juliette Cauly / AFP via Getty Images.

Swimmers must be able to swim, remove a minimum height of 1.20 meters, and shower before entering. Last summer more than 100,000 people swam without major health incidents. The 2026 season begins on August 30, weather and water quality permitting. Fair warning from a CNN reporter: the water is more khaki than turquoise, and the smell leaves something to be desired.

Thanks for reading. You can find the Thought Catalog on Facebook, and learn more on our website.

People swim in the River Seine at the Bercy public swimming pool in Paris

REUTERS/Tom Nicholson

Swimmers in the Seine river at the Grenelle public bath in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background

Swimmers enjoy the Grenelle baths on the River Seine in Paris on July 4, 2026, with the Eiffel Tower rising in the background. Photo by Tom Nicholson Reuters.

People swim in an outdoor pool on the Seine river near the Auteuil viaduct in Paris, 1938.

Parisians cool off in an open pool on the Seine near the Auteuil viaduct in August 1938. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.

Swimmers in the Deligny pool on the banks of the Seine in Paris, 1946

Swimmers cool off in the Deligny pool near the Seine in Paris during a heat wave in June 1946. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.

Swimmers in the Seine river at the Bras Marie baths in Paris

Parisians board at Bras Marie, one of three newly opened free swimming pools along the Seine, on July 4, 2026. Photo by Romain Perrocheau AFP via Getty Images.

People swim in the Seine River near the Pont d'Iéna in Paris during a heat wave in June 1946.

Parisians cool off in the Seine near the Pont d’Iéna during the heatwave of June 1946 – this same space is now open to public swimmers. Photo via AFP/Getty Images.

Wide shot of the Grenelle supervised swimming pool near the banks of the Seine river in Paris's 15th arrondissement, with a platform and marked swimming areas.

A wide view of the Grenelle swimming pool along the Seine in Paris’s 15th arrondissement on July 4, 2026, where marked areas, a platform, and security personnel are in place as part of the Paris en Seine program. Photo by Benjamin Vodant AFP via Getty Images.

Two young women sunbathe on the right bank of the Seine River in Paris in the summer of 1945

On a sunny summer day in 1945, two Parisian girls are relaxing on the right bank of the Seine River. Photo by AFP via Getty Images.

People swim in the River Seine at the Bercy public swimming pool in Paris

Swimmers take to the River Seine in the Bercy area of ​​Paris on July 5, 2026, during the second year the waterway has been open to the public. Photo by Tom Nicholson Reuters.

Aerial view of a dozen swimmers in the Seine River, most of them wearing or holding yellow buoyancy belts, with dark flowing water around them.

Seen from above, swimmers wearing mandatory yellow flotation belts wade into the Seine at the Bras-Marie baths in Paris on July 5, 2026. Photo by Juliette Cauly AFP via Getty Images.





Leave a Comment