Paris inaugurates giant water storage basin to clean up the River Seine for Olympic swimming

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00:00It's a gigantic structure, meant to bring Paris one step closer to its promise of hosting

00:06the Olympics free swimming events in the Seine.

00:10The Games serve as a pretext, an accelerator, but above all, we do this for the long-term

00:14legacy, and on a personal level, I think it's wonderful.

00:19This is exactly our vision for these Olympic Games, games that serve a territory, the residents,

00:24and the environment too, because there is less pollution in the natural environment.

00:30Last year's test events in the Seine had to be cancelled due to poor water quality.

00:35One reason was heavy rains that overwhelmed the city's old sewers, causing them to overflow

00:40into Paris' main river.

00:42At an estimated cost of 1.4 billion euros, this reservoir aims to collect stormwater

00:47and overflowing sewage and domestic wastewater before directing them to treatment centres.

00:52This structure enables us to move the events back a few days in case there are major climate

01:00shocks, but we won't have to cancel them altogether.

01:06For decades, the Seine was mainly used as a waterway for the transport of goods and

01:10people, and sometimes as an open-air dump for industries and citizens.

01:17Swimming there has mostly been prohibited since 1923.

01:21But the threat of a faun, or disease, won't stop these Parisians.

01:24They've already been swimming in the Seine for over a year.

01:29This part of the canal looks relatively clean.

01:32We go swimming and we've never really had any health problems.

01:35On the other hand, the Seine in central Paris seems a bit dirtier.

01:39So it's already swimmable and we're already enjoying it a lot.

01:45The river Seine is also said to be at the heart of the grandiose opening ceremony of

01:50the Olympics, although these plans could change for security reasons.

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