Paris Reopens Seine River to Public Swimming After Century-Long Ban and $2.3 Billion Cleanup

Paris Reopens Seine River to Public Swimming After Century-Long Ban and $2.3 Billion Cleanup

Paris Reopens Seine River to Public Swimming After Century-Long Ban and $2.3 Billion Cleanup For the first time in over a century, Parisians are swimming in their own river again following a cleanup effort that ran over $1.5 billion. PARIS EST MAGIQUE ! 🫶🏻🇫🇷#ParisJeTaime #Seine pic.twitter.com/9AvaKnYeoS — Clément Beaune (@CBeaune) July 12, 2025 Currently open to 1,000 bathers daily in three different cordoned swimming locations for free, Parisians are flocking to enjoy their river the way their great-grandparents once did. Excitement that pollution in the Seine river would be low enough to allow for healthy swimming grew and grew in the years and months leading up to the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024, when it was supposed to be used for the triathlon event. Both Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo and French President Emanual Macron promised to take a dip in the Seine in July before the Games’ opening, and while the former did, the latter was officially unable to because of campaign commitment…