The Seine, which runs through the heart of Paris and has long been the city’s lifeblood—and its dump, leaving the body of
The dirty Seine
For many centuries, the Seine has been the dumping ground for everything from human waste and animal parts to garbage and dead bodies. The river makes its way from just outside Dijon to the Paris basin and has essentially been an open-air dump since humans first settled the area in the 3rd century B.C.
In the 19th century, George-Eugène Haussmann, known as Baron Haussmann, undertook a vast public works project to revitalize Paris’ city center under the direction and funding of Napoleon. He created many of the parks, grand boulevards and avenues we see today. He also renovated the city’s infrastructure, including the sewers and
According to Time Magazine, the Seine has become a dumping ground for large items, including television sets and motorcycles, in recent decades. Over 360 tons of large garbage is hauled out of the Seine each year. In 2023, 1.9 million cubic meters of untreated wastewater, including both domestic and industrial sewage, went into the river. Time reports that that is 90 percent lower than 20 years ago, but pollution is still a huge problem, particularly when heavy rains hit and the sewage system is overwhelmed.
How will the Seine be cleaned?
One of the biggest hurdles to the cleanup is the intricate and ancient infrastructure system beneath the streets. Making the Seine swimmable was one of the critical pillars of Paris’ winning bid for the 2024 Olympics, as there are plans to hold four events in the river: the triathlon, para-triathlon, marathon swim and the opening ceremony.
Hosting the Olympics will be a significant economic driver for France. According to the International Olympic Committee, the event is estimated to bring in as much as $12 billion into the French economy and create a whopping 250,000 jobs in the country.
Cleaning up the Seine has meant constructing a massive rainwater catch basin and tunnels that can hold up to 10 million gallons of runoff (more than 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools). When it rains, the catch basin will store the runoff to keep it from running into the sewer system and flooding the Seine before being treated and sent back into the river. Paris is also constructing 26 new swimming pools, walled off from the boat traffic that carries nearly 20 million metric tons of goods up and down the river.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo plans to swim in the Seine on Monday next week to prove that it is once again safe to swim. French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly said that he, too, would swim in the Seine to prove that it’s safe, though no date has been set. Unhappy Parisians are rumored to plan to stage a protest of sorts by defecating into the river to make it unswimmable.
The river is tested every day for bacteria and pollution. It remains to be seen whether the $1.5 billion project will yield the results that Paris organizers hope for. Thanks to sunny weather recently, the Seine has met swimming standards on seven of the last nine days.
Other municipalities around the world are closely watching the cleanup, as it could provide a template for cities like Philadelphia, which has had a plan for years to make the Delaware River clean enough for swimming. Like others worldwide, political wrangling and budget cuts have consistently hampered that plan.
