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New swimming spot on Paris canal closed due to pollution New swimming spot on Paris canal reopens after closure due to pollution
(about 11 hours later)
A new public bathing area on a Paris canal that has been helping residents keep cool during the summer has been temporarily closed due to pollution just a week after opening. A new public swimming area on Paris’s Canal de l’Ourcq has reopened after it was temporarily closed due to higher than normal bacteria levels following weekend rains.
The city of Paris tweeted that three floating pools on the Canal de l’Ourcq were closed because the water quality was “unsatisfactory”. The floating structure that has been put in place for the summer has allowed Parisians to legally swim in the canal at La Villette for the first time in decades. It proved very popular when it opened this month and was hailed by the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, as the beginning of a “dream” to launch open swimming areas in other city waterways, including on the river Seine in 2024 if Paris succeeds in its bid to host the Olympics that year.
The cause of the pollution was not clear. Authorities said the site would remain closed until the situation returned to normal. The swimming area was briefly closed on Monday after a routine test on Sunday night found higher than normal levels of enterococci, bacteria found in faecal matter. The city of Paris tweeted that the pool was closed because the water quality was “unsatisfactory”.
French radio said heavy rainfall over the weekend had led to higher than normal levels of enterococci, a bacteria found in faecal matter. The pool reopened on Tuesday morning after subsequent tests found the water quality was back to normal. It is thought that heavy rainfall at the weekend had led to the higher than normal readings of bacteria levels.
The pools, which can take up to 300 bathers at a time, are the culmination of a 10-year effort by the city of Paris to purify the canal water so that those who cannot afford a seaside holiday can still take the plunge. With temperatures last week rising well above 30C (86F), they proved an instant hit as hundreds of people queued on the first day for a dip. Tests are regularly made at a point upstream from the swimming area to ensure the water quality is within guidelines. After a 10-year effort by the city to clean up the canal water, regular tests had consistently come back with satisfactory results showing the bacteria levels were far below accepted limits. Authorities said they would keep testing regularly during the swimming season.
Inaugurating the facility, the Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo, called it “a dream come true”. But for most Parisians, being able to swim in the Seine river past the Eiffel Tower represents the ultimate prize. Hidalgo has set a target of 2024, when the city hopes to host the summer Olympics, to have bathers bobbing in the Seine. A spokeswoman for the Paris authorities said: “Tests carried out on Monday night showed that the levels are now back in line with the requirements, so we have reopened the pool. It’s nothing serious. The water quality is good.”
The floating pool structure, which can take up to 300 swimmers at a time, proved an instant hit after opening this month, and when Paris temperatures rose well above 30C, hundreds of people queued each day to get in.
Inaugurating the facility, Hidalgo called it “a dream come true”. The mayor has set a target of 2024, when the city hopes to host the summer Olympics, to have swimming areas at designated points along the Seine.
After decades in which casual bathing in Paris’s river and canals was banned for many reasons, including strong currents, fears of bacteria and sewage pollution, authorities are moving to give swimmers more access.
In recent years, lone swimmers could regularly be seen taking dips in the canal at La Villette of their own accord, despite the “no swimming” signs.
The official pool structure, opened by city hall at La Villette for the summer as part of the Paris Plages festival, marks the first time in many years that swimmers can legally swim there.