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Science Quickly

Cleaning Up Paris’s Poop River for the Olympics

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2024

⏱️ 24 minutes

🧾️ 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 [email protected] 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 [email protected] 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

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

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0:11.0

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0:20.1

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0:22.7

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0:36.2

One week from today, the 2024 Olympics will begin in Paris with a parade, not in a stadium,

0:44.9

but on a river.

0:46.9

Thousands of athletes from more than 200 territories will float on boats down the seine.

0:52.6

City officials and event organizers have placed a big bet on this beloved river,

0:57.5

that the infamously polluted waters will be safe for Olympic swimmers to compete in.

1:02.5

But their efforts have been met with, well, we'll say skepticism, to say the least.

1:07.8

Back in June, when the mayor of Paris and Hidalgo was set to swim in the

1:11.4

sand to show her confidence in the cleanup efforts, a trending hashtag encouraged folks

1:15.8

to poop in the river in protest, unclear. Hidalgo did successfully take a dip this past Wednesday

1:22.5

and gave the experience rave reviews. But that doesn't necessarily mean the Olympic events will go quite as

1:28.4

swimmingly. You know what they say about stepping into the same river twice? Those things are

1:33.6

always changing and always flowing. And the sense bacterial levels still fluctuate from day to day.

1:40.9

For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman. Today I'm joined by Associate News

1:45.9

editor Alison Partial, who's investigated this high-profile cleanup attempt for us.

1:53.0

So, Allison, tell me, are Olympians going to swim in this river or not?

1:57.5

I would love to be able to tell you. I would peer into my crystal ball, but I think until

2:02.0

there are bodies in the water, I'm not going to be able to say one way or the other.

...

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