Cleaning Up Paris’s Poop River for the Olympics

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2024

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Seine is set to feature prominently in the Paris 2024 Olympics’ Opening Ceremony—and in its marathon swimming events. But this urban waterway has been challenging to clean and keep clean after a particularly wet summer and high bacterial counts. What can the Parisian organizers learn from the revitalization of a U.S. river that was so polluted that it inspired the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency? Scientific American associate news editor Allison Parshall takes us to the banks of the reformed Cuyahoga River in Ohio. Plus, she gives us a look at the growing urban river swimming movement in Europe. Recommended Reading Training with 'Digital Twins' Could Boost Olympic Swimmer Speeds Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest and Scientific American associate news editor Allison Parshall. Our show is edited by Elah Feder, Alexa Lim, Madison Goldberg and Anaissa Ruiz Tejada, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. The Seine is set to feature prominently in the Paris 2024 Olympics’ Opening Ceremony—and in its marathon swimming events. But this urban waterway has been challenging to clean and keep clean after a particularly wet summer and high bacterial counts. What can the Parisian organizers learn from the revitalization of a U.S. river that was so polluted that it inspired the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency? Scientific American associate news editor Allison Parshall takes us to the banks of the reformed Cuyahoga River in Ohio. Plus, she gives us a look at the growing urban river swimming movement in Europe. Recommended Reading Training with 'Digital Twins' Could Boost Olympic Swimmer Speeds https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/training-with-digital-twins-could-boost-olympic-swimmer-speeds/ E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/getsciam/ And sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter: https://www.scientificamerican.com/account/email-preferences/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey Lutte from Radio Lab here, we are partnering with the International Astronomical Union to give you a chance to name one of Earth's quasi moons.
0:10.6	And this isn't like the naming a star after your dead pet kind of thing.
0:14.0	This will be the official forever name of this guazzy moon.
0:18.4	Submit a name now through September or vote on the name you like best in November.
0:22.6	It's your chance to leave your mark on the heavens.
0:25.5	Go to Radiolab.org slash Moon to find out more. One week from today, the 2024 Olympics will begin in Paris with a parade, not in a stadium but on a river.
0:44.8	Thousands of athletes from more than 200 territories
0:47.9	will float on boats down the cen.
0:50.4	City officials and event organizers have placed a big bet on this beloved river that the
0:55.7	infamously polluted waters will be safe for Olympic swimmers to compete in.
1:00.6	But their efforts have been met with, well, we'll say skepticism, to say the least.
1:05.0	Back in June, when the mayor of Paris and Hidalga was set to swim in the sand to show her confidence in the cleanup efforts,
1:11.0	a trending hashtag encouraged folks to poop in the river in protest, unclear.
1:17.4	Hidalgo did successfully take a dip this past Wednesday and gave the experience rave reviews.
1:23.0	But that doesn't necessarily mean the Olympic events will go quite as swimmingly.
1:27.0	You know what they say about stepping into the same river twice?
1:30.0	Those things are always changing and always flowing.
1:35.0	And the sense bacterial levels still fluctuate from day to day.
1:38.9	For Scientific Americans science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
1:42.0	Today I'm joined by Associate News Editor Allison Parcel,
1:45.3	who's investigated this high-profile cleanup attempt for us.
1:48.8	So, Allison, tell me, are Olympians going to swim in this river or not?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Scientific American, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Scientific American and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.