An unusual color and a rising level. On Saturday, the government’s Vigicrues vigilance system indicated that the Seine was entering yellow alert. Despite a “usual” flood for the season according to the bulletin presented, this yellow vigilance comes after the river levels have risen since Thursday. Vigilance is extended to Monday. Vigicrues warns: “The levels of the Seine in Paris are expected to rise slightly today Monday and tomorrow Tuesday. »
“The Seine is brown”, as a user of the social network X (formerly Twitter) actually points out. A logical situation given the precipitation of the last few days and which will not prevent Anne Hidalgo, who wishes to return the Seine to Parisian bathers in 2025, from taking a dip in the capital’s river before the Olympics begin. Subsequently, it will be the turn of the Olympic athletes to dive there next July for the triathlon, open water swimming and para-triathlon events.
According to a French university study published in 2019, between 2,200 and 5,900 tonnes of plastic end up in the Seine every year, along its 780 km. That’s an average of 5 tonnes per km. “Visual cleanliness, namely floating waste, is a significant psychological barrier,” recognized last July Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sports, the Olympics and the Seine.
For several months, a retention basin has been under construction behind the Austerlitz station (13th century) in order to store nearly 50,000 m3 of water in the event of rainy periods. Its commissioning should take place this spring.