less than two weeks away, a question hangs over the Games: Will the Seine River be clean enough for athletes to swim in?
But a few spells of heavy rain could push E. coli levels beyond the limit of 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters that the World Triathlon Federation has determined as safe for competitions. — and the marathon swimming competition would be relocated to the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in the greater Paris region.
“Predictions of rainfall have become much more accurate up to a week in advance,” said Jennifer Francis, a scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts. “But the seasonal patterns of past decades no longer provide reliable guidance in our warmer world.” Dan Angelescu, the founder and CEO of Fluidion, a Paris and Los Angeles-based water-monitoring tech company, said there have been improvements observed in the river since the city's new infrastructure came online, but that the Seine's water quality remained fragile. His company has measured the Seine's contamination levels for several years.