Paris made its river swimmable again
For more than a hundred years, the Seine belonged to the boats and the postcards, and swimming in it was both forbidden and genuinely unwise. This month, for the second summer in a row, Parisians are back in their river. Three public swimming spots are open along its banks, one near Notre Dame, one close to the Eiffel Tower and one in the city's east, and on warm afternoons the water is full of people doing something their great grandparents could only have imagined: floating in the Seine, looking up at their city.
It took decades of unglamorous work to get here: fixing old pipes, catching stormwater before it fouled the river, and holding on to the promise first made for the Olympic Games. The reward is a river reborn as a public place, and proof of something Earth to Sea News believes deeply: waterways come back when cities decide they matter. One visitor put the feeling simply: it is amazing to swim in the Seine while looking at the Eiffel Tower. Cities everywhere, take note. Your river misses you.
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