Efforts to clean up the Seine River in Paris, France, date back decades but were more recently kicked up a few notches as the city prepared to hold Olympic events in the waterway that for more than a century was blocked to swimmers.
Despite the Paris Games being fully underway, athletes taking part in the triathlon were put on hold after repeat testings of the Seine River returned a result that showed unsafe water pollution levels.
The answer, it seems, is no – or, at least, for the time being. Per officials, the water had been clean enough but the recent rains helped leak untreated sewage.
While the men’s triathlon is rescheduled for Wednesday, organizers have pulled out their contingency plans, including scrapping the swimming portion of the event altogether if the tests don’t turn around.
