JOEL SAGET / AFP
Analyses of the water quality of the Seine at the Pont Alexandre-III in Paris were within health standards six days out of seven from July 17 to 23.
Olympic Games – After the opening ceremony in the rain, could events fall through? Analyses of the water quality of the Seine at the Pont Alexandre-III in Paris were within health standards six days out of seven during the week of July 17 to 23, according to the results revealed this Friday, July 26 by the authorities, and this seven days before the first Olympic events planned in the river. Enough to delight the organizers, who nevertheless remain on the alert.
And for good reason. Despite the water quality results improving since the end of June, the holding of the triathlon events (July 30 and 31, then August 5) and the marathon swimming events (August 8 and 9) will depend on the level of bacteriological pollution just before the event. The green light will be given during the night from Saturday to Sunday by the Organizing Committee and the International Triathlon Federation.
Insufficient sanitation works in the event of severe weather
However, last-minute bad weather could halt all the sanitation efforts that have been carried out for months, at the cost of colossal investments. In fact, in the event of heavy rain, untreated water could flow into the Seine, and runoff could drain bacteria present on the ground into the river.. “The sanitation works of the bathing plan will make it possible to limit this pollution, but not to eliminate it in the event of an intense storm”explains in this regard the city of Paris website.
As proof, at the level of the Alexandre-III bridge, the content of the river in fecal bacteria E. coli and enterococci, the two taken into account by the regulations, were in the red on Sunday July 21. This “degraded result” East “linked to the rains of the day before” and is not found at the other three monitoring points where the samples are taken “were made earlier today,” However, the authorities clarified.
Speed ” very high “
Unfortunately, Météo France is forecasting precipitation, possibly significant, from this Friday afternoon. They will be continuous, sometimes sustained, until the middle of the night. “, specifies the meteorologist on X. If the rainy episode is too intense, the quality of the water in the Seine could therefore return to the red.
Another parameter that counts for open water events: the flow of the river, also sensitive to rain. It remains very high, around 350 m3/second, two to three times more than a normal summer. “There will be a necessary adaptation for athletes”warned the deputy for the Olympic Games and the Seine, Pierre Rabadan, on Wednesday.
All that remains for the organisers of the Olympic Games is to hope that the most pessimistic models predicting, at the opening ceremony, ” 10 to 15 mm of precipitation that could fall in three hours, the equivalent of eight to 10 days of rain,” are wrong. Other scenarios see much lower rainfall or, in 20 to 30% of cases, no rain at all.
There is no cause for alarm for the moment either, the organizers of the Games have planned a plan B for the Olympic events, which consists of postponing them by a few days. And there is even a plan C, which plans to move the marathon swimming event to Vaires-sur-Marne, where the rowing and canoeing-kayaking competitions will already take place.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.fr
