YOU CAN NOW SWIM IN THE SEINE

For the first time in over a century, Parisians and tourists can swim in the Seine River. Three new swimming sites on the Paris riverbank opened Saturday, including one close to Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral, another near the Eiffel Tower, and a third in eastern Paris. The River Seine had been famous, like most rivers, for being polluted.
But the city worked hard to clean up the river in the run-up to the recent Paris Olympic Games. They built new disinfection units and created a huge storage basin meant to prevent as much bacteria-laden wastewater as possible from spilling directly into the Seine when it rains. Houseboats that previously emptied their sewage directly into the river are now required to hook up to municipal sewer systems. Some homes upstream from Paris also saw their wastewater connected to treatment plants instead of the rainwater system flowing directly into the river. Officials say the river water is tested daily to confirm it’s safe to swim, and flags will inform visitors whether they can go in that day.
* Safe to swim – blue flag. Not safe to swim – brown flag. Yuck.
* Finally, a use for that bikini! Which the French invented.
* You can swim in the Seine. If only you could breathe the polluted air – so much cigarette pollution.
* In France, you can now swim in the river by night, or take a splash bidet.