Inside the Olympic effort to clean up the River Seine — and why it may be spoiled by a rainy day

With less than 100 days to go before the Paris 2024 Olympic games in France, concerns about pollution in Paris' Seine river are being raised.

PARIS — Meandering down the Seine River, the light breeze, gentle current and the sun’s glistening rays weren’t the only things the three kayakers were hoping to catch on a warm spring day — they were also on the hunt for garbage. 

By attaching nylon stockings to the side of their kayaks, they scooped up even the smallest fragments of plastic, as well as the everyday detritus of life in the French capital that washes to the river’s surface every time it rains. The members of the Arc de Seine Kayak club then sent what they had collected to be tested for bacterial levels. 

“My kayak capsized this morning and I’m OK,” a laughing Paul Maakad told NBC News on Sunday, at the Pont de Sevres in central Paris. 

But while Maakad, 40, and his fellow boaters said they were not scared of getting into the river, with less than 100 days to go before the 2024 Paris Olympics, fears are growing that events like the marathon swim, the triathlon and the paratriathlon could be postponed or canceled because of high pollution levels, or that the flotilla-based opening ceremony could be affected.

Kayakers Paul Maakad, Sarah Birden and Vincent Darnet with the trash they collected from the Seine.Joel Lawrence / NBC NewsEarlier this month, Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris Organizing Committee, expressed confidence "that it will be possible to use the Seine,” but admitted that the swimming leg of the triathlon could be canceled if pollution levels are too high. "It’s what we want to avoid, of course,” he said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/olympic-effort-clean-river-seine-may-spoiled-rainy-day-rcna147966

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