Paris 2024 Olympics: Unsafe levels of E. coli found in Seine river ahead of showpiece event
With the Paris Olympics 2024 fever catching up, the water in the Seine River had elevated unsafe levels of E. coli according to the test results published on June 14, Friday by Associated Press.
Notably, swimming competitions are scheduled to take place in the River Seine during the Paris Olympics 2024. E. coli stands for Escherichia coli, which is a type of bacteria. It may cause relatively brief diarrhea and stomach cramps.
It’s worth noting that according to European standards, the E. coli safe limit is 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters. Importantly, the World Triathlon Federation uses the same criteria to determine the water quality for the events.
In the first eight days of June 2024, the test results indicated that E. coli levels frequently exceeded these safe limits. However, Enterococci levels were better, mostly staying within safe limits.
Furthermore, the tests showcased an improvement, from high contamination levels on June 1 to more acceptable levels by June 9, importantly because of improved weather.
In the upcoming Paris Olympics 2024, the first event in the cleaned-up Seine will be the men’s triathlon, including a 1.5 km swim on July 30. The women’s triathlon is scheduled on the next day and a mixed relay event will take place on August 5.
Furthermore, Marathon swimming races for women and men will take place on August 8 and 9 respectively. Notably, Local and state authorities invested USD 1.5 billion to improve the River Seine's water quality.
IOC confident of hosting Paris Olympics 2024 swimming events in the Seine
International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Director Christophe Dubi discussed with the city officials and Paris Olympics 2024 organizers, stating that there are no reasons to doubt.
“We are confident that we will swim in the Seine this summer,” Dubi said in an online briefing.
However, the final decision on giving the green signal for the swimming events will rest on the governing bodies of individual sports, World Aquatics and World Triathlon.
Since the test swimming events got canceled due to unsafe E. coli levels in August 2023, the safety of the Seine water has been in doubt.