Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, might have felt comfortable jumping into the Seine yesterday as a way of proving the water will be just fine for the Olympic triathlon and open-water swimming events in a few weeks, but many water-quality experts remain wary of the conditions. That’s even if the E. coli levels come down over the next few weeks to meet what organizers have deemed an acceptable level – 1,000 CFU/ 100 ml.
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“It’s still pretty risky,” says Dr. Heather Murphy, who leads the Water, Health and Applied Microbiology (WHAM) Lab at the University of Guelph. “The level of contamination is really high.”
Dr. Murphy points out that in most parts of North America, beaches are closed when E. coli levels are higher than 235 CFU/ 100 ml. In Europe the acceptable number is much higher – typically 900 CFU/ 100 ml.
“E. coli values are the best proxy indicator for pathogens in the water,” Dr. Murphy continues. “The higher it goes, the more risk there is … that 900 threshold is really risky, especially for the marathon swimmers. For the triathletes (because they’ll be in the water for less time), maybe less so.”
While Dr. Murphy says “you wouldn’t catch me in there,” she knows full well that the athletes will have little choice if officials determine the water is safe for swimming. Her advice?
“Make your immune system really strong,” she says, “and avoid swallowing the water.”
London, Rio and Tokyo concerns
This is hardly the first time there have been water quality concerns for the Olympics. In the months leading up to the London Games in 2012, blue green algae was found in the Serpentine, the swim venue. Experts suggested that athletes shouldn’t put their heads in the water before the Rio Games in 2016, and there were concerns about the water quality in Tokyo, too.
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The Paris organizers and politicians have invested heavily in the Seine cleanup both in terms of political capital and hard cash. Before Mayor Hidalgo took to the river yesterday, France’s sport minister did a swim over the weekend. (Turns out the two are political rivals, so the swim on the weekend was a classic case of one-upmanship.) On the cash front, millions of Euros have been invested on five different projects designed to increase the capacity of the sewage network that would reduce amount of pollution going into the river and make the water safe for swimming. There’s also a new reservoir being constructed which should be able to store and treat water from the river, and milliions of Euros are being spent on connecting homes to the new sewage networks.
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Improved conditions
“In spite of a rather significant water flow, the Seine water quality has improved over the period, and the results are consistent with the thresholds as determined by the European directive over six days (from 24 to 29 June, 1 and 2 July for almost all sampling sites),” World Triathlon reported. “This positive evolution is due to the return of sunshine and warmer temperatures, and to the works carried out as part of the Seine Water Quality Improvement Plan.”
That’s good news for both the Olympics and Paralympics this summer. The E. coli levels found in the tests released by World Triathlon show levels that would be well below the 1,000 CPU/ 100 ml, with many approaching the acceptable levels in North America, too.
It might not be enough for Dr. Murphy, but for the organizers and competitors at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, those numbers will have to do.
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