Paris’ River Seine will soon be safe to swim in once again

After a century-long ban, Paris authorities have announced that the River Seine will be clean enough to swim in by the end of the year. At least two 2024 Olympic swimming races will be held in the river. How did the city clean up its act?

I will never forget the horror of hearing the sound of a huge splash while working during a summer heatwave in Amsterdam.

Our offices’ upstairs neighbour — a local celebrity and highly eclectic sort — had decided to cool off in the murky brown waters of one of the city’s famous canals.

Much like Londoners who gag at the thought of the Thames River touching their big toe, I believe that most urban waterways are a nice sight to gaze at while sipping a glass of wine, but are never something to submerge in.

Stories of untreated sewage, garbage, and old bicycles rusting along the bottom have seen the vast majority of city dwellers reserve swimming for chemically-clean pools or holidays abroad.

But in the French capital, things are about to look a lot different.