Become a Leave Curious member over on Patreon. Where you can support, follow and influence the channel! www.patreon.com/leavecurious Thanks for watching!
Funny how it takes an event like this to even considering something so basic. This should be the baseline it stays at.... While they work to improve it further.
Agreed but I think thats still a quite low baseline. A better one would be if you take a look at the Netherlands. Seperate sewage and drainage since the 80s. Sewage treatmentplants everywhere. However pollution still builds up trough other means, oceancleanup I believe the company is called is the 1st company to test on scale to combat that. But the scale if you look at just the scale of a small country like the Netherlands is none.. stuff like that needs to be added ontop of it and even then you would still not have the start of a minimum baseline.
it takes some big events and a lot of publicity to get the politicians to realize there is a need ... but when a politican has realised it can help him in his quest for power, he will do it.
It's been a work in progress for the last 25 years to be fair, with significant improvements happening all along the years. These olympics were the final push, but salmons and trouts were already back (in small numbers obviously) before that.
Water quality aside, a decade or so ago Munich did "Plan Isar". Obviously there's no such thing as a "perfect" project, but it took the city's main river, renaturalized significant portions of it, improved flood protection, widened river beds, etc, and also made it more accessible to people by removing steep concrete embankments and replacing them with terraced steps and the typical alpine gravel "beaches" that, well, people and animals (and I guess rivers) all can enjoy. By and large it feels like the sorta project you can get almost everyone on board with as really everyone wins, in a way. It's a win-win-win if done right. Hope Paris will continue to work on the Seine and not just forget about it after the Olympics, but they are generally doing good stuff there (also with bike infrastructure and such) so I'm reasonably hopeful.
Sounds seriously cool, I'm really looking forward to seeing Munich / Bavaria later this year. I understand theres a strong beaver population throughout!
Haha, yeah. Don't remember ever spotting one in the city myself, but they've covered pretty much every tree anywhere near running water with steel meshes for a reason. Bavaria has a bit of an odd/self-contradicting relationship towards nature I find. But I guess that's also what makes it interesting to look at; so do enjoy ;)
I used to design these kinds of projects. They bring amazing ecological and flood management benefits! Not only is the river health restored, but often the local water tables are restored- improving drought tolerance. From a climate resiliency standpoint, there is little downside. The hard part is always convincing people to give up property to expand the channel width. I think this is what prevents these projects from happening more often in Europe where there is often dense development on the banks of the channels.
I live in a town in the UK that hosts an annual regatta on the Thames. Unfortunately, this year’s event was cancelled because not enough participants signed up, likely due to concerns about the river’s condition and pollution. And this is much further upriver from big population centre's like London, where the water is shallower, faster-flowing, and teeming with life. It probably didn’t help that the Seine, which was described as safe, still led to Olympians contracting E. coli and experiencing severe illness after swimming in the supposedly "clean" river.
bracknellnews 29th December 2023 «No river or stream in Bracknell Forest are ‘good’ healthy places for plants and wildlife, it has been revealed. Thames Water has come under fire over the past year for the amount of untreated sewage it has discharged into rivers. Figures revealed in November showed that it has pumped 72 billion litres of untreated sewage into the Thames. » (72 bn litres = 72 mn tonnes)
I've always loved Paris, even at its filthiest, but I was ever so impressed at the changes on my recent visit. Cleaner streets, cleaner air, more bicycles, and now I see they've got cleaner water too. Great work mayor Hidalgo, keep pushing on!
London have just completed the Tideway project, which is more or less based on the same idea - collect all of the surplus. The main difference is that Tideway is essentially a huge bonus sewer, rather than tanks. It's meant to reduce sewage outflow occurrences from roughly once every week or two, to just 5 times a year. That being said, it's been criticised for not being sufficient, and for having been pushed over more environmentally friendly and/or long-term solutions, such as separating sewage and storm water, providing more green and permeable surfaces for groundwater, and potentially collecting rainwater for other uses.
and the sewage treatment works for Reading, the largest town on the Thames, was renewed back in 2005 at a cost of about £75m with a new state-of-the-art treatment works.
Paris has done way more than just building a big tank, they have been connecting boat to the sewer system so that they don't reject poop into the seine, they have been removing objects from the seine, they have been repairing a massive amount of outdated sewer pipe that leaked into the seine
Building a whole separate system for storm water would probably be more expensive and disruptive vs one big tunnel to connect to all the existing sewers. But all those other things to reduce storm water going into sewers can still be done bit by bit, which should then reduce the overflows to near zero if they are done enough. New developments should definitely be required to implement storm water separation if they aren't already.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191this is why infrastructure declines in the west and is so expensive, because of the half hearted measures and satisfied with “good enough”. No, do it properly and separate the sewage water.
@@TheBooban The point is it's relatively easy to do tongs like this when you first build on an area, but it's incredible hard to retrofit onto somewhere that's been built on for 100s of years. It's much easier to have modern infrastructure when a city is new.
As mentioned above, the Tideway super sewer is currently being commissioned and I’ve been watching their UA-cam channel for the past couple of years. A future video about that would be very interesting. Great video as always, keep up the good work!
It's not just that rain can create an overflow event, it's that rain falling on the streets brings along with it whatever was on the streets. I'm generally for separating storm and sanitary sewers, but if you just channel the stormwater directly into the river you're still sending a lot of pretty foul stuff into it. This fact was a consideration when my city went about sorting out the older sewers downtown. One of the solutions was a massive holding pipe or tunnel that lets the stormwater out at a slower rate so that the treatment plant could handle it.
Where I live, until about 10 years ago they only tested the water at the beaches if someone complained. Since then they test regularly and it turns out there is a lot of poo in the water. We have a similar sewer system and flooding events have increased dramatically in the last 5 years. I haven't been to the beach in 3 years because of it.
Yeah it’s a real problem in many areas throughout England. Not just rivers but costal areas as you say. I think with a bit of searching you should be able to find safe spots.
We have the same issue with combined sewage in Philadelphia (about 60% of sewers are combined), leading to pollution of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, along with many creeks. Unfortunately, the city has also been very slow to make substantial changes to the system. However, on the plus side, the city has created a lot more green space and parks along the river sides, with local flora and fauna making some return
I mean, dealing with an old sewage system is likely a huge pain in the butt. It is good to see a noticeable improvement of water quality (though not sure if trend will continue after Olympics conclude).
I live in St Paul, MN, the furthest commercially navigable point up the Mississippi and near where our storm drains empty (a marshy area and lake adjacent to the river.) We now have separated sanitary and storm sewers that prevent most of this kind of overflow, but it wasn't just about separating pipes for street drains, it was about convincing people to redirect the downspouts from their roofs and the water pumped out of their basement sumps out onto the ground. Then once the sanitary sewers aren't receiving rain water from those sources, you have to convince people to stop pouring dangerous chemicals down the gutters and keep their cars in good repair so they aren't leaking anything horrible. AND convince people to not over fertilize their lawns or let lawn clippings or pet waste lay on pavement contributing to algal bloom. AND get cities and individuals to decrease or stop using salt to melt ice and snow in the winter. AND convince people that throwing cigarettes butts on the ground is a major form of water pollution. It's a series of laws and educational opportunities over decades. Friends of the Mississippi River have spray paint stencils to mark near "Keep 'em Clean, Drains to River" to remind people, and educational materials available if your area already has separated storm drains that move untreated storm water into waterways.
They could have many smaller holding ponds that have water hyacinth and other cleansing plants for the water to get cleaner before going into the rivers.
Hello American Ohio epa licensed waste water operator here Not really a sewer plant issue it’s a pipe problem, and space problems. You don’t have room to build artificial wet lands at every outflow. Also your dealing in some areas with hundred plus year old pipes/tunnels that to disconnect the storm from the sanitary sewer would require major excavation and then you have to fix the road or the buildings they were under. Add in historical importance of Paris whose to say that a complete fix would also damage or require special precautions because of historical areas. And with the pipes being old records are lost before the age a digital records and even requirements to record construction projects that you likely don’t even know where all the sanitary connections are.
Btw London is actually doing things to improve the Thames. We just built a massive new sewer that runs beneath the Thames that will alleviate a lot of the pollution problems, though the river will be far from clean.
Thank you so much! I've been looking for the nature side of this story. Really nice that at least the fish and nature is feeling a positive difference.
When I was a kid we had this creek where we could see toilet paper and poo pouring in going straight into the sea. Apparently, and this took years to be fixed, it was hooked up wrong so the sewer ran into the overflow and the overflow ran into the sewer.
Are they doing anything within those holding tanks to clear the water? Clean Flo International has some awesome ways that have cleaned pig slop ponds of their smells, saving marriages and neighborhood friendships. I have used their products, in my pond, natural enzymes and bacteria that belong in healthy waterways along with the fine aeration systems that circulate the water for the critters to have the best access to clean up the water.
@@louisegogel7973 I believe they process the water through the normal wastewater treatment plant. The tank buys them time to process it rather than overflowing into the river.
Yes thank you this entirely slipped my mind and it’ll certainly help the Thames when it opens. The problems much wider throughout England and I’m unaware of any wide scale efforts to regulate water companies. Although new government plan to get on top of it.
Absolutely fascinating video, and slightly different from your usual content. Would love to see more of these and in line with your experience and expertise from doing environmental impact assessments. I’d love to see videos on more of the water quality issues in the U.K. Especially in Scotland where as much as it’s perceived better, it isn’t tested as much as England 🥴
Would be great to see Paris implement more storm water retention projects as well. Catching the water in a tank is one option, but preventing or delaying it getting to the sewar is compatible second. Permeable pavers, swale gardens, living roofs, and storm water basins in parks can help prevent the over flows into the river. Added bonus, is they reduce the city watering costs, treat the storm water, and replenish the water tables. All around better resource management.
@@user-vo3st8kx7s Yeah I did see it later on the news, but, if the river is filthy on Thursday and the pollution is evident, what happens in the following 24 hours, that makes it significantly cleaner? The system I saw that had been built was to prevent any further water being discharged during the Olympics in the event of rain. You're not trying to tell me that the water in the Seine is continuously being filtered mechanically? I know Ultra-violet has a big positive impact in terms of breaking down faeces, but viruses? I'm not so sure? So - what is the system they're using to clean it over night?
E.coli isn't a very strong bacteria, and easily dies from the sun rays. Additionally, the Seine is quite fast. You just need 2 days of good sunny weather after an overflow to go back to decent levels.
@@marcbuisson2463 Ah okay, but water with E.coli in it - Hmmm 'Decent levels'? Yeah I'd avoid getting it in my mouth that's for sure! Especially just two days later😯
The mayor of London Sadiq Khan committed to making the citiy's waterways swimmable by 2034 at the most recent mayoral election. Further affield in the Midlands, Severn Trent are doing some projects to bring some local rivers such as the Leam and the Teme to bathing water quality by 2025. Whilst the story in England nationally is one of decline, there is maybe some hope, and it is clear something can be done not just in those places, but across the country.
Parisians busy cleaning the Seine. Meanwhile in UK: bracknellnews 29 December 2023 « Thames Water has come under fire over the past year for the amount of untreated sewage it has discharged into rivers. Figures revealed in November showed that it has pumped 72 billion litres of untreated sewage into the Thames. » (72 bn litres = 72 mn tonnes) b 30 March 2024 « ‘Would you swim in that?’ Salford residents and visitors bemoan most sewage-infested waterway in England. »
Ive swum in it a few times downstream from Paris. I can say with 100% confidence that it is waaaaaaay cleaner than when I was a kid. You used to be able to see poop islands float by on deadfall or debris, even when it wasnt flooded, up until the mid 2000s. I hope they keep cleaning it up and rewilding it.
You should make a video about lough neagh in northern Ireland. A truly environmental disaster. Pollution, algae blooms and invasive species have ruined it. And it is a truly special lake. It is huge for one. 392km2 making it the largest in the british isles as well as making 40% of NI’s drinking water. The government and local councils have failed it and it’s practically dead now
In zürich there was a big event thst weekend where 4500 people swam in the limmat right in the city Our rivers have been clean and swimmable since I can think and I love it, its so nice to be able to take a train to the city and 10 minutes later you are in nice clean swimmable water^^
1:38 Actually London is constructing the Thames Tideaway, which is essentially a super sewer designed to cope with increasing waste water. And reduce the likelihood of sewers overflowing dueing storm events
A lot of the 10km swimmers will be out celebrating tonight on the beer. Im sure a few will be sick tomorrow whether it’s from the Seine or the beer it will be hard to know!
What was the measured water quality at the beginning of these events? How does it compare to public health standards? How many athletes swam in the Seine? How many athletes did puke? How many did attribute it to the Seine? How does it compare to previous olympics? If you do not know the answers then no it does not say it all and you are at chance of failing statistics 101, before we even mention other factors such as the nocebo effect. Don’t get tricked by sensationalist headlines and literal Russian propaganda.
@@pomperidus Unfortunately standards vary across the world, assuming there are any standards. The standard used in Paris were much lower than the standard allowed in the United States but was much higher than in many other countries.
I wish we could make similar efforts with our rivers in the UK. It is a national disgrace that of the nearly 1500 rivers in the UK, only three are deemed safe to swim in and even they are graded as 'poor' in terms of water quality. All the while, Water company CEOs are making record profits, catastrophically under-investing into the infrastructure, and raising prices for consumers. Privatized Water has been a disaster for this country.
Here in Oslo, Norway, the city is spending a lot on separating the sewer and rainwater. In all these projects, the rainwater needs to be stored and infiltrated locally, removing the need for megaproject-style holding tanks. But this approach is not a cheap easy-fix. It entails digging up all the streets and fixing the infrastructure across the whole city
Since 2002, every summer a large portion of the right bank of the Seine is transform into a beach. It's called Paris Plage. Sand is brought in as well as beachy furniture and games. But people are not allowed to swim. Next year they will be, And that's great because the event is extremely popular. Many Parisians leave the city during the summer when the city is overrun by tourists, and go to the beach (in or outside of France), yet many can't afford to or don't find the time to go. It would be awesome to visit Paris during that time. It is so strange to see all the people tanning in the sun lounging on the sand in the heart of Paris. 😁
Couple of stories for you, I have recently diverted my down pipes which take the water from the roof to drain onto my garden instead of going into the main drain and despite all the rain, I have had no flooding issues. Am I right in thinking all new builds have to do this? The other is I used to go canoeing on the Trent at Holme pierpoint and it was renowned for giving you the "Trent trots" but one solution which seemed to work was to load up with Coca Cola drink.
UK building regs for decades have required rainwater to not be connected to the sewerage system to stop overload. But building regs are not retrospective. A conscientious person might consider doing what you've done to their older property, especially if they care about sewage entering waterways. Good on you for doing it.
@@davidstanfordHow long approximately has that rule been in place? That covers roof water as well as driveways etc? What are the recommended ways of dealing with the water? Do these rules apply to all new buildings, or are there exemptions for difficult circumstances?
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 I don't know for sure when the rule was brought in, but I was told around 30 years ago. There are exceptions if not "practicable", and as with all building regs, depends on the inspector's interest in the matter. Generally it is a case of digging a soakaway.
Very nice video. I'd like to add a few things (but if you had the video would have been longer) : - the efforts to clean the Seine is not new. The idea is more than 150 years old. The real efforts began in the 1980's and the latest developpement were already planned : the Olympics gave it a kick to go faster - the big reservoir you show, costing 1,4 billion Euros is but one of the many constructions made to achieve the goal : it's the biggest and the most emblematic because it is in Paris and was made in time for the Olympics - cleaning the Seine is not only Paris thing : it's about al the Seine bassin : all its tributaries from their sources to the Havre were the estuary of the Seine is : almost a quarter of the French river system - the levels put in place which made one Olympic trial missing a day are very low and conservative : they could have swum that day but it would have been poor PR. And do not forget that, in many competitions, they don't even measure the quality of the water... - it's very probable that the Seine was not the cause of the few illnesses that happened : this kind of intoxication shows symptoms between 3 and 5 days after the contact with the polluted water : the one retching just after the finnish line can't have been containated that day and the other athlete in that very competition who was also ill had symptom the day after the trial. And other athletes have been ill before and after that and most hadn't swum in the Seine : there were 10 500 athletes in these Olympics, most of them living in the same compound... it could have been anything.
5:25 you know London banned house boats discharging in 2015. “But, said Bravo, there was one flaw to the houseboat plan. The system doesn't work when the river level rises and is higher than the valve connecting to the first pump, as was the case at the end of this winter.” So it won’t work all the time anyway lol
Im french and a lot of beaches in France are dirtier (more E.choli) than the Seine right now. And there is a lot of swimmers in the sea in those places and people don't complain. So I don't know what to think about it, but I understand that the sea feels "cleaner"
If im not mistaken arent they retiring the old victorian system for a new huge one thats being used in a few years? Ive seen pictures of huge white tubes that is apparently being shipped straight to the plant like 30 miles away So apparently that is supposed to be the solution to the back flow problem!
I know london is working on a huge sewage system upgrade that hopefully reduces storm drain spill over into the river. Though its not a direct attempt to clean the river, more to manage the sewage of london as it grows!
I've read that Orlando, Florida wants to host the Summer Games at some point. The CDC in US has found actual cases of leprosy in Florida. There is an over-sized population of huge snakes and gators that will bite your leg off. The beaches are deteriorating and even in 4 years we don't know what the physical shape of Florida will be. And the tides have been biologically infected, ruining some sources of seafood and indigenous animals of the sea. Governor DeSantis even sold citizens natural spring drinking water and now pays a bundle to clean the water that was not good enough to sell. Dream on, Florida, home of declining civil liberties.
All the best to the athletes who went in. It is good to hear that more species can now live in the Seine. Let's hope the trend will continue, I fear thhat with a new mayor at some point all the good she did for the infrastructure will be undone.
If they're not going to separate the storm & sanitary sewers, Paris (and other cities) should work on getting people to stop doing dishes, taking showers, and flushing toilets during big rain events. I think rivers need active cleaning in the form of floating reed mat water gardens. The floating plants can pull excess nutrients out of the water.
France is too developed and wealthy to ask that of its citizens, majority won’t follow those practices and recommending them will cause distaste towards environmentally positive initiatives
@@BigL.10 Ah yes, got to love the WEIRD nations. Don't want to pay taxes for proper services, don't want to be efficient or follow any rules. Just want to be gluttonous & lazy. I can see why so many activists are simply giving up on humanity. People want nice things without having to work or pay for them.
Title: "Why Paris succeeded".... Content: "Several athletes got sick and saw floating turds, it's sort of working maybe, and they spent €1.4 Billion" - Lovely video as always boss, but odd choice of title 🤷♂️....or at least odd pacing leaving it till 6 mins in to get to the goods to then conclude with yeah personally I think it's premature because, yknow, if it rains etc....
I believe its premature to of let people into the Seine, but from a nature restoration perspective I do think its a success. I'm chopping and changing the title to try and find something that fits the message. its a tricky one to boil down to a snappy title :)
Well most athleteswho were sicks it was not due to the Seine. Perhaps 1 and it's not sure. And floating turds ? How can you have floating turds in the Seine ? That's not true. I live in Paris, I have never seen that and I'm working next to the Seine and when it's sunny at noon I'me eating next to it. The Seine is much cleaner than before even if they still have works to do for people to swim in it on summer. Brt please be careful about what you can read on social medias.
Cost doesn’t mean that much, large scale government infrastructure is notoriously inefficient and goes way over budget most of the time. Not saying it’s not a great step, but it’s not necessarily effective, we’ll have to wait and see
In switzerland next to the high moutain ? It's easier. The Seine it's 30 millions inahbitants, 40% of the french industry, 25% of the french agriculture. It's much more difficult to clean it thant to cleain some swiss river
Why, because of the iffy water quality? It is far from the only place with such issues and they have improved the situation from what it was, as the video documents.
Very informative. It's sad to think that people are so ignorant when it comes to polluting the Seine. The school curriculum should include information to make children aware of what they will inherit if they don't respect and consider nature.
Annie Dingo, Mad Annie, the mayor of Paris swam in it and the rats didn't complain so I don't see why athletes should ! I was actually there for the Men Swimming Marathon and they all came out alive Two Hungarian and one German on the podium and they looked perfectly fine with a nice greenish tint
Even if they did as fast as possible during COVID, they're not done. That's why swimming in the Seine for everyone will be opened next year, not now. So yes, it's a bit premature, it's known.
Yes i did actually, only human - however, raw sewage in English waters is a national problem, so while thats better for the thames, what about everywhere else?
How can you say that nothing is being spent to clean up the Thames when they are building the Thames Tideway to take the storm water downstream to Beckton rather than discharge into the Thames?
The job is far from done. Thousands of houses and buildings upstream are releasing sewage, and it was ill advised to have the triathelons in the Seine as Olympic organisers KNEW the water quality had been unacceptable for 10 of the 12 days previous to the competition. Yet that fact was kept from the press and only made available through the work of investigative journalists.
i live near lakes and they are pretty well kept. rain stirs up the ecoli there too. its often 12-24 hours of a no swimming advisory after a rain event. now you can see the bottom 12ft down so by no means am i saying the seine is clean, but thats a pretty normal phenomenon from my understanding. hopefully the citizens of paris see the good of this work and push with their wallets and votes to continue cleaning the river and others like it.
Great that they decided to clean waterways but it shouldn't have been at this cost.The Paris 2024 Olympics are also a horrible example of social cleansing with thousands harassed, forcibly displaced or completely dislodged (poor French people, migrants, students, etc.), Let's not forget the crazy cost, the terrible environmental impact and the repressive measures put in place (including drone surveillance).
Not sure I should have eaten my breakfast while watching this one xD Damn, horrific to see the state that rivers are in - I really wish our governments could focus on putting that money back into our environment, almost as if they actually want to care about their people..
well they can clean up the water going in but the river bed will have the contamination of over a century on it only takes something to stir up silt up river to put lots of nasty s back into the water
I think it was brilliant to try and clean up the Seine rather than to spend 1.4 billion on stadia, and Olympic villages and other infrastructure, which is essentially useless after the event. As for saying it's premature to swim in it - on odds, it's probably safer than crossing the road, let along driving every day!! Vive La France! I wish other countries would try and clean up their capital city's river. And all their other waterways, too! (BTW, I enjoyed the video, although Its a shame you didn't report about what has been happening upstream, where farmers have been financially encouraged to grow organically.)
They even will fix the remaining issues in just a few years. The 1.4 Million have four effects. First off all someone opened the topic of cleaning the seine and back it with money. Second id say that 75% of the money needed to clean up the seine already has been invested. Third the legeslation has been updated so that new houses have to have a separate sewage system. Fourth with that amount of money, it already showing Sucess, the legislation and the overall good publicity, they reached a point of no return. As everyone who stops the clean up just gets a big backlash from economists ecologist and the overall public. Which are the big 3 off political approval. I think around 2030 Parisians will wonder how the could live with a dirty seine
I watched this a few months back for anyone else interested in what Paris did to help clean up the Seine - ua-cam.com/video/S1SMO8CYF3s/v-deo.htmlsi=kZghpmkFBgaffgCP
Become a Leave Curious member over on Patreon. Where you can support, follow and influence the channel! www.patreon.com/leavecurious
Thanks for watching!
Funny how it takes an event like this to even considering something so basic.
This should be the baseline it stays at.... While they work to improve it further.
Agreed but I think thats still a quite low baseline. A better one would be if you take a look at the Netherlands. Seperate sewage and drainage since the 80s. Sewage treatmentplants everywhere. However pollution still builds up trough other means, oceancleanup I believe the company is called is the 1st company to test on scale to combat that. But the scale if you look at just the scale of a small country like the Netherlands is none.. stuff like that needs to be added ontop of it and even then you would still not have the start of a minimum baseline.
@@Strange-Viking Well said! A lot of countries can start on the same path and better it!
The project started before the Olympics, it just allowed for more funding and accelerated administrative stuff.
it takes some big events and a lot of publicity to get the politicians to realize there is a need ... but when a politican has realised it can help him in his quest for power, he will do it.
It's been a work in progress for the last 25 years to be fair, with significant improvements happening all along the years. These olympics were the final push, but salmons and trouts were already back (in small numbers obviously) before that.
Water quality aside, a decade or so ago Munich did "Plan Isar". Obviously there's no such thing as a "perfect" project, but it took the city's main river, renaturalized significant portions of it, improved flood protection, widened river beds, etc, and also made it more accessible to people by removing steep concrete embankments and replacing them with terraced steps and the typical alpine gravel "beaches" that, well, people and animals (and I guess rivers) all can enjoy.
By and large it feels like the sorta project you can get almost everyone on board with as really everyone wins, in a way. It's a win-win-win if done right. Hope Paris will continue to work on the Seine and not just forget about it after the Olympics, but they are generally doing good stuff there (also with bike infrastructure and such) so I'm reasonably hopeful.
Sounds seriously cool, I'm really looking forward to seeing Munich / Bavaria later this year. I understand theres a strong beaver population throughout!
Haha, yeah. Don't remember ever spotting one in the city myself, but they've covered pretty much every tree anywhere near running water with steel meshes for a reason.
Bavaria has a bit of an odd/self-contradicting relationship towards nature I find. But I guess that's also what makes it interesting to look at; so do enjoy ;)
Yes! My favourite thing about Munich is hanging at the river in the summer and going for a dip and a float. ❤
We have even some beavers at the Weidninsel, but at the moment there are to many people going for a swim there, so no beavers ...
I used to design these kinds of projects. They bring amazing ecological and flood management benefits! Not only is the river health restored, but often the local water tables are restored- improving drought tolerance. From a climate resiliency standpoint, there is little downside.
The hard part is always convincing people to give up property to expand the channel width. I think this is what prevents these projects from happening more often in Europe where there is often dense development on the banks of the channels.
This is probably rhe best thing of the entire olympics. Finally some attention to nature and thus the people!
No wonder it apparently is the most unpopular part.
I live in a town in the UK that hosts an annual regatta on the Thames. Unfortunately, this year’s event was cancelled because not enough participants signed up, likely due to concerns about the river’s condition and pollution. And this is much further upriver from big population centre's like London, where the water is shallower, faster-flowing, and teeming with life. It probably didn’t help that the Seine, which was described as safe, still led to Olympians contracting E. coli and experiencing severe illness after swimming in the supposedly "clean" river.
Funnily enough that Belgian triathlete and the Belgian Olympic committee actually announced after tests it wasn’t E. Coli that the athlete caught 😂
Glad you commented on the Thames. Hello from 🇺🇸
bracknellnews 29th December 2023 «No river or stream in Bracknell Forest are ‘good’ healthy places for plants and wildlife, it has been revealed. Thames Water has come under fire over the past year for the amount of untreated sewage it has discharged into rivers. Figures revealed in November showed that it has pumped 72 billion litres of untreated sewage into the Thames. » (72 bn litres = 72 mn tonnes)
Вы русский@@happyslappy5203
Thames is not swimmable! "It's Paris' fault!" said the Little Englander. No buddy, own your pollution and corrupt policies.
I've always loved Paris, even at its filthiest, but I was ever so impressed at the changes on my recent visit. Cleaner streets, cleaner air, more bicycles, and now I see they've got cleaner water too. Great work mayor Hidalgo, keep pushing on!
London have just completed the Tideway project, which is more or less based on the same idea - collect all of the surplus. The main difference is that Tideway is essentially a huge bonus sewer, rather than tanks. It's meant to reduce sewage outflow occurrences from roughly once every week or two, to just 5 times a year.
That being said, it's been criticised for not being sufficient, and for having been pushed over more environmentally friendly and/or long-term solutions, such as separating sewage and storm water, providing more green and permeable surfaces for groundwater, and potentially collecting rainwater for other uses.
and the sewage treatment works for Reading, the largest town on the Thames, was renewed back in 2005 at a cost of about £75m with a new state-of-the-art treatment works.
Paris has done way more than just building a big tank, they have been connecting boat to the sewer system so that they don't reject poop into the seine, they have been removing objects from the seine, they have been repairing a massive amount of outdated sewer pipe that leaked into the seine
Building a whole separate system for storm water would probably be more expensive and disruptive vs one big tunnel to connect to all the existing sewers. But all those other things to reduce storm water going into sewers can still be done bit by bit, which should then reduce the overflows to near zero if they are done enough. New developments should definitely be required to implement storm water separation if they aren't already.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191this is why infrastructure declines in the west and is so expensive, because of the half hearted measures and satisfied with “good enough”. No, do it properly and separate the sewage water.
@@TheBooban The point is it's relatively easy to do tongs like this when you first build on an area, but it's incredible hard to retrofit onto somewhere that's been built on for 100s of years. It's much easier to have modern infrastructure when a city is new.
As mentioned above, the Tideway super sewer is currently being commissioned and I’ve been watching their UA-cam channel for the past couple of years. A future video about that would be very interesting. Great video as always, keep up the good work!
It's not just that rain can create an overflow event, it's that rain falling on the streets brings along with it whatever was on the streets. I'm generally for separating storm and sanitary sewers, but if you just channel the stormwater directly into the river you're still sending a lot of pretty foul stuff into it.
This fact was a consideration when my city went about sorting out the older sewers downtown. One of the solutions was a massive holding pipe or tunnel that lets the stormwater out at a slower rate so that the treatment plant could handle it.
Where I live, until about 10 years ago they only tested the water at the beaches if someone complained. Since then they test regularly and it turns out there is a lot of poo in the water. We have a similar sewer system and flooding events have increased dramatically in the last 5 years. I haven't been to the beach in 3 years because of it.
Yeah it’s a real problem in many areas throughout England. Not just rivers but costal areas as you say. I think with a bit of searching you should be able to find safe spots.
We have the same issue with combined sewage in Philadelphia (about 60% of sewers are combined), leading to pollution of the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, along with many creeks. Unfortunately, the city has also been very slow to make substantial changes to the system. However, on the plus side, the city has created a lot more green space and parks along the river sides, with local flora and fauna making some return
I mean, dealing with an old sewage system is likely a huge pain in the butt.
It is good to see a noticeable improvement of water quality (though not sure if trend will continue after Olympics conclude).
Lets see, it likely will - during 2025 they're going to open up swimming pools on the Seine again.
I live in St Paul, MN, the furthest commercially navigable point up the Mississippi and near where our storm drains empty (a marshy area and lake adjacent to the river.) We now have separated sanitary and storm sewers that prevent most of this kind of overflow, but it wasn't just about separating pipes for street drains, it was about convincing people to redirect the downspouts from their roofs and the water pumped out of their basement sumps out onto the ground. Then once the sanitary sewers aren't receiving rain water from those sources, you have to convince people to stop pouring dangerous chemicals down the gutters and keep their cars in good repair so they aren't leaking anything horrible. AND convince people to not over fertilize their lawns or let lawn clippings or pet waste lay on pavement contributing to algal bloom. AND get cities and individuals to decrease or stop using salt to melt ice and snow in the winter. AND convince people that throwing cigarettes butts on the ground is a major form of water pollution. It's a series of laws and educational opportunities over decades. Friends of the Mississippi River have spray paint stencils to mark near "Keep 'em Clean, Drains to River" to remind people, and educational materials available if your area already has separated storm drains that move untreated storm water into waterways.
💚 The hair 👍🏻 the beard 👍🏻 the glow 👍🏻 thank you 🙏🏻 Rob 🤍!! Great 👍🏻 video as always!! 💜
Thanks Ghost Mama as always!!
@@LeaveCurious you’re welcome! 💚🤍
With foresight, water-cleaning plants could have spent a few years in the Seine.
They could have many smaller holding ponds that have water hyacinth and other cleansing plants for the water to get cleaner before going into the rivers.
Hello American Ohio epa licensed waste water operator here
Not really a sewer plant issue it’s a pipe problem, and space problems. You don’t have room to build artificial wet lands at every outflow. Also your dealing in some areas with hundred plus year old pipes/tunnels that to disconnect the storm from the sanitary sewer would require major excavation and then you have to fix the road or the buildings they were under. Add in historical importance of Paris whose to say that a complete fix would also damage or require special precautions because of historical areas. And with the pipes being old records are lost before the age a digital records and even requirements to record construction projects that you likely don’t even know where all the sanitary connections are.
Btw London is actually doing things to improve the Thames. We just built a massive new sewer that runs beneath the Thames that will alleviate a lot of the pollution problems, though the river will be far from clean.
Thank you so much! I've been looking for the nature side of this story. Really nice that at least the fish and nature is feeling a positive difference.
Yeah there’s many ways of looking at this story, if it helps nature, I’ll talk about it :)
When I was a kid we had this creek where we could see toilet paper and poo pouring in going straight into the sea. Apparently, and this took years to be fixed, it was hooked up wrong so the sewer ran into the overflow and the overflow ran into the sewer.
Thank you for reporting positively on the efforts made by our city to solve a centuries-long problem
A centuries long problem? Your citizens were shitting in the river "in protest" before the games. The "centuries long problem" is Parisians.
Thanks for the explanation!
We have the same issue in the US, cities are being forced to resolve the issue or face fines. We are using the same solution with holding tanks.
Are they doing anything within those holding tanks to clear the water? Clean Flo International has some awesome ways that have cleaned pig slop ponds of their smells, saving marriages and neighborhood friendships.
I have used their products, in my pond, natural enzymes and bacteria that belong in healthy waterways along with the fine aeration systems that circulate the water for the critters to have the best access to clean up the water.
@@louisegogel7973 I believe they process the water through the normal wastewater treatment plant. The tank buys them time to process it rather than overflowing into the river.
Not sure you're right saying we've not done anything in UK, what about the Thames Tideway Tunnel?
Yes thank you this entirely slipped my mind and it’ll certainly help the Thames when it opens. The problems much wider throughout England and I’m unaware of any wide scale efforts to regulate water companies. Although new government plan to get on top of it.
Absolutely fascinating video, and slightly different from your usual content. Would love to see more of these and in line with your experience and expertise from doing environmental impact assessments. I’d love to see videos on more of the water quality issues in the U.K.
Especially in Scotland where as much as it’s perceived better, it isn’t tested as much as England 🥴
I really enjoy your work. Just so you know my slow worm sanctuary is doing OK!
Would be great to see Paris implement more storm water retention projects as well. Catching the water in a tank is one option, but preventing or delaying it getting to the sewar is compatible second. Permeable pavers, swale gardens, living roofs, and storm water basins in parks can help prevent the over flows into the river. Added bonus, is they reduce the city watering costs, treat the storm water, and replenish the water tables. All around better resource management.
Glad you did this, as I was thinking - one day its dirty next it's not? How many millions of cubic metres of water have to be cleaned - yeah a joke.
Well you are probably not familiar with the capacity of a large City swever
@@user-vo3st8kx7s Yeah I did see it later on the news, but, if the river is filthy on Thursday and the pollution is evident, what happens in the following 24 hours, that makes it significantly cleaner? The system I saw that had been built was to prevent any further water being discharged during the Olympics in the event of rain. You're not trying to tell me that the water in the Seine is continuously being filtered mechanically? I know Ultra-violet has a big positive impact in terms of breaking down faeces, but viruses? I'm not so sure? So - what is the system they're using to clean it over night?
Water flows
E.coli isn't a very strong bacteria, and easily dies from the sun rays. Additionally, the Seine is quite fast. You just need 2 days of good sunny weather after an overflow to go back to decent levels.
@@marcbuisson2463 Ah okay, but water with E.coli in it - Hmmm 'Decent levels'? Yeah I'd avoid getting it in my mouth that's for sure! Especially just two days later😯
I've lived in and visit Paris regularly over the last 20+ years and there's no way I would have allowed swimmers in that river.
The mayor of London Sadiq Khan committed to making the citiy's waterways swimmable by 2034 at the most recent mayoral election. Further affield in the Midlands, Severn Trent are doing some projects to bring some local rivers such as the Leam and the Teme to bathing water quality by 2025. Whilst the story in England nationally is one of decline, there is maybe some hope, and it is clear something can be done not just in those places, but across the country.
I would like to visit these at some point and learn more about them because it feels like the problem is vast and widespread throughout England.
Parisians busy cleaning the Seine. Meanwhile in UK: bracknellnews 29 December 2023 « Thames Water has come under fire over the past year for the amount of untreated sewage it has discharged into rivers. Figures revealed in November showed that it has pumped 72 billion litres of untreated sewage into the Thames. » (72 bn litres = 72 mn tonnes) b 30 March 2024 « ‘Would you swim in that?’ Salford residents and visitors bemoan most sewage-infested waterway in England. »
London's Olympic park has a CSO emptying into the lagoon just off Eastcross bridge.
Great video Rob, looking forward to the road trip.
Ive swum in it a few times downstream from Paris. I can say with 100% confidence that it is waaaaaaay cleaner than when I was a kid. You used to be able to see poop islands float by on deadfall or debris, even when it wasnt flooded, up until the mid 2000s.
I hope they keep cleaning it up and rewilding it.
You should make a video about lough neagh in northern Ireland. A truly environmental disaster. Pollution, algae blooms and invasive species have ruined it. And it is a truly special lake. It is huge for one. 392km2 making it the largest in the british isles as well as making 40% of NI’s drinking water. The government and local councils have failed it and it’s practically dead now
In zürich there was a big event thst weekend where 4500 people swam in the limmat right in the city
Our rivers have been clean and swimmable since I can think and I love it, its so nice to be able to take a train to the city and 10 minutes later you are in nice clean swimmable water^^
Good video.
Thanks :)
1:38 Actually London is constructing the Thames Tideaway, which is essentially a super sewer designed to cope with increasing waste water. And reduce the likelihood of sewers overflowing dueing storm events
A lot of the 10km swimmers will be out celebrating tonight on the beer. Im sure a few will be sick tomorrow whether it’s from the Seine or the beer it will be hard to know!
I'm glad they made an attempt but the athletes coming out of it puking at what they encountered said it all.
What was the measured water quality at the beginning of these events? How does it compare to public health standards? How many athletes swam in the Seine? How many athletes did puke? How many did attribute it to the Seine? How does it compare to previous olympics? If you do not know the answers then no it does not say it all and you are at chance of failing statistics 101, before we even mention other factors such as the nocebo effect. Don’t get tricked by sensationalist headlines and literal Russian propaganda.
@@pomperidus
Unfortunately standards vary across the world, assuming there are any standards. The standard used in Paris were much lower than the standard allowed in the United States but was much higher than in many other countries.
I wish we could make similar efforts with our rivers in the UK. It is a national disgrace that of the nearly 1500 rivers in the UK, only three are deemed safe to swim in and even they are graded as 'poor' in terms of water quality. All the while, Water company CEOs are making record profits, catastrophically under-investing into the infrastructure, and raising prices for consumers. Privatized Water has been a disaster for this country.
Here in Oslo, Norway, the city is spending a lot on separating the sewer and rainwater. In all these projects, the rainwater needs to be stored and infiltrated locally, removing the need for megaproject-style holding tanks. But this approach is not a cheap easy-fix. It entails digging up all the streets and fixing the infrastructure across the whole city
Since 2002, every summer a large portion of the right bank of the Seine is transform into a beach. It's called Paris Plage. Sand is brought in as well as beachy furniture and games. But people are not allowed to swim. Next year they will be, And that's great because the event is extremely popular. Many Parisians leave the city during the summer when the city is overrun by tourists, and go to the beach (in or outside of France), yet many can't afford to or don't find the time to go. It would be awesome to visit Paris during that time. It is so strange to see all the people tanning in the sun lounging on the sand in the heart of Paris. 😁
Couple of stories for you, I have recently diverted my down pipes which take the water from the roof to drain onto my garden instead of going into the main drain and despite all the rain, I have had no flooding issues. Am I right in thinking all new builds have to do this? The other is I used to go canoeing on the Trent at Holme pierpoint and it was renowned for giving you the "Trent trots" but one solution which seemed to work was to load up with Coca Cola drink.
UK building regs for decades have required rainwater to not be connected to the sewerage system to stop overload. But building regs are not retrospective. A conscientious person might consider doing what you've done to their older property, especially if they care about sewage entering waterways. Good on you for doing it.
@@davidstanfordHow long approximately has that rule been in place? That covers roof water as well as driveways etc? What are the recommended ways of dealing with the water? Do these rules apply to all new buildings, or are there exemptions for difficult circumstances?
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 I don't know for sure when the rule was brought in, but I was told around 30 years ago. There are exceptions if not "practicable", and as with all building regs, depends on the inspector's interest in the matter. Generally it is a case of digging a soakaway.
The company Clean Flo International has been restoring waterways and water bodies as well as livestock ponds into healthy water bodies!
Very nice video. I'd like to add a few things (but if you had the video would have been longer) :
- the efforts to clean the Seine is not new. The idea is more than 150 years old. The real efforts began in the 1980's and the latest developpement were already planned : the Olympics gave it a kick to go faster
- the big reservoir you show, costing 1,4 billion Euros is but one of the many constructions made to achieve the goal : it's the biggest and the most emblematic because it is in Paris and was made in time for the Olympics
- cleaning the Seine is not only Paris thing : it's about al the Seine bassin : all its tributaries from their sources to the Havre were the estuary of the Seine is : almost a quarter of the French river system
- the levels put in place which made one Olympic trial missing a day are very low and conservative : they could have swum that day but it would have been poor PR. And do not forget that, in many competitions, they don't even measure the quality of the water...
- it's very probable that the Seine was not the cause of the few illnesses that happened : this kind of intoxication shows symptoms between 3 and 5 days after the contact with the polluted water : the one retching just after the finnish line can't have been containated that day and the other athlete in that very competition who was also ill had symptom the day after the trial. And other athletes have been ill before and after that and most hadn't swum in the Seine : there were 10 500 athletes in these Olympics, most of them living in the same compound... it could have been anything.
5:25 you know London banned house boats discharging in 2015.
“But, said Bravo, there was one flaw to the houseboat plan.
The system doesn't work when the river level rises and is higher than the valve connecting to the first pump, as was the case at the end of this winter.”
So it won’t work all the time anyway lol
Thank you for keeping this positiv. This achievement is fantastic even though I chair your opinion that swimming was a bit premature.
Thanks for another great video!
Im french and a lot of beaches in France are dirtier (more E.choli) than the Seine right now. And there is a lot of swimmers in the sea in those places and people don't complain. So I don't know what to think about it, but I understand that the sea feels "cleaner"
Oops I didn't realized that I have not subscribed yet, thank you for the reminder!
Love the channel. I’m a Patreon member! 🌱
Awesome! Thank you!
Thank you for this content.
This is the first I've ever seen this UA-camr so I like this video and I was wondering is he kinda like tom Scott?
Good angle, man. Nice!
1000 E. coli per 100ml is still quite high, we’re I am anything over 500 is considered unsafe for swimming and ideally you want to be well under that
If im not mistaken arent they retiring the old victorian system for a new huge one thats being used in a few years? Ive seen pictures of huge white tubes that is apparently being shipped straight to the plant like 30 miles away
So apparently that is supposed to be the solution to the back flow problem!
Must be the only Olympic project that has/will have a long term positive effect that benefits the local population.
I know london is working on a huge sewage system upgrade that hopefully reduces storm drain spill over into the river. Though its not a direct attempt to clean the river, more to manage the sewage of london as it grows!
Are they continuing with the clean up?
Great points. I want to add that Paris is so big that the Seine will never be fully clean so more Parisians need to move away
I've read that Orlando, Florida wants to host the Summer Games at some point. The CDC in US has found actual cases of leprosy in Florida. There is an over-sized population of huge snakes and gators that will bite your leg off. The beaches are deteriorating and even in 4 years we don't know what the physical shape of Florida will be. And the tides have been biologically infected, ruining some sources of seafood and indigenous animals of the sea. Governor DeSantis even sold citizens natural spring drinking water and now pays a bundle to clean the water that was not good enough to sell. Dream on, Florida, home of declining civil liberties.
When you fill your mind with atrocious libtard propaganda, this is what gets regurgitated.
Yeah, but apart from all those bad things...it sounds like it would be great! :)
All the best to the athletes who went in. It is good to hear that more species can now live in the Seine. Let's hope the trend will continue, I fear thhat with a new mayor at some point all the good she did for the infrastructure will be undone.
If they're not going to separate the storm & sanitary sewers, Paris (and other cities) should work on getting people to stop doing dishes, taking showers, and flushing toilets during big rain events. I think rivers need active cleaning in the form of floating reed mat water gardens. The floating plants can pull excess nutrients out of the water.
France is too developed and wealthy to ask that of its citizens, majority won’t follow those practices and recommending them will cause distaste towards environmentally positive initiatives
@@BigL.10 Ah yes, got to love the WEIRD nations. Don't want to pay taxes for proper services, don't want to be efficient or follow any rules. Just want to be gluttonous & lazy. I can see why so many activists are simply giving up on humanity. People want nice things without having to work or pay for them.
Nothing like this in London? What about the Tideway tunnel?
Title: "Why Paris succeeded".... Content: "Several athletes got sick and saw floating turds, it's sort of working maybe, and they spent €1.4 Billion" - Lovely video as always boss, but odd choice of title 🤷♂️....or at least odd pacing leaving it till 6 mins in to get to the goods to then conclude with yeah personally I think it's premature because, yknow, if it rains etc....
I believe its premature to of let people into the Seine, but from a nature restoration perspective I do think its a success. I'm chopping and changing the title to try and find something that fits the message. its a tricky one to boil down to a snappy title :)
Well most athleteswho were sicks it was not due to the Seine. Perhaps 1 and it's not sure. And floating turds ? How can you have floating turds in the Seine ? That's not true. I live in Paris, I have never seen that and I'm working next to the Seine and when it's sunny at noon I'me eating next to it. The Seine is much cleaner than before even if they still have works to do for people to swim in it on summer. Brt please be careful about what you can read on social medias.
I agree. I like how they tried 2 clean up the river, but no swimming/causing avoidable illness pls
Comment for engagement!
nice one!
You should go to Munich and have a look at the Isar river
Yes, you need to retract what you said about London doing nothing. Tideway is a £5bn project, and that's not because we're hosting the Olympics.
Yeah that comment rather pissed me off. It was just lazy journalism.
Cost doesn’t mean that much, large scale government infrastructure is notoriously inefficient and goes way over budget most of the time. Not saying it’s not a great step, but it’s not necessarily effective, we’ll have to wait and see
So hosting of the Olympics to make the river cleaner has been a real plus.... and hopefully it stays that way...
Come for a swim in a river in Switzerland. They take water quality to the next level. 🙂🙂🙂
In switzerland next to the high moutain ? It's easier. The Seine it's 30 millions inahbitants, 40% of the french industry, 25% of the french agriculture. It's much more difficult to clean it thant to cleain some swiss river
Yeah, having Alpine glaciers waters coming straight feom just a few meters upstream will achieve that much easier...
For me they should all boycott this olympics.
Why, because of the iffy water quality? It is far from the only place with such issues and they have improved the situation from what it was, as the video documents.
How did Tokyo do it for the 2020 Olympics ?
would you swim in it ?????
Very informative. It's sad to think that people are so ignorant when it comes to polluting the Seine. The school curriculum should include information to make children aware of what they will inherit if they don't respect and consider nature.
Annie Dingo, Mad Annie, the mayor of Paris swam in it and the rats didn't complain so I don't see why athletes should !
I was actually there for the Men Swimming Marathon and they all came out alive
Two Hungarian and one German on the podium and they looked perfectly fine with a nice greenish tint
Even if they did as fast as possible during COVID, they're not done. That's why swimming in the Seine for everyone will be opened next year, not now. So yes, it's a bit premature, it's known.
Informative film but it sounds as though they have a way to go yet
You haven't forgotten about the $5 billion Thames Tideway Tunnel have you?
Yes i did actually, only human - however, raw sewage in English waters is a national problem, so while thats better for the thames, what about everywhere else?
How can you say that nothing is being spent to clean up the Thames when they are building the Thames Tideway to take the storm water downstream to Beckton rather than discharge into the Thames?
Paris doe not "CLEAN" the Seine. They just stop making it dirty.
The job is far from done. Thousands of houses and buildings upstream are releasing sewage, and it was ill advised to have the triathelons in the Seine as Olympic organisers KNEW the water quality had been unacceptable for 10 of the 12 days previous to the competition. Yet that fact was kept from the press and only made available through the work of investigative journalists.
When they had a triathlon in the UK 57 athlete got sick
Are there big shark there if you know what I mean?
nice!
This is a valuable resource that human waste is not used as a organic fertilizer to grow our food l understand there would be trouble with parasites .
All the swimmers got sick...
Liar ! That's not true. Stop telling bullshit !
i live near lakes and they are pretty well kept. rain stirs up the ecoli there too. its often 12-24 hours of a no swimming advisory after a rain event.
now you can see the bottom 12ft down so by no means am i saying the seine is clean, but thats a pretty normal phenomenon from my understanding.
hopefully the citizens of paris see the good of this work and push with their wallets and votes to continue cleaning the river and others like it.
Great that they decided to clean waterways but it shouldn't have been at this cost.The Paris 2024 Olympics are also a horrible example of social cleansing with thousands harassed, forcibly displaced or completely dislodged (poor French people, migrants, students, etc.), Let's not forget the crazy cost, the terrible environmental impact and the repressive measures put in place (including drone surveillance).
Why not a bloomin swimming pool?
so basically they just have to finish the work by building more „tanks“ and completely cut off the river from the sewage system
Not sure I should have eaten my breakfast while watching this one xD Damn, horrific to see the state that rivers are in - I really wish our governments could focus on putting that money back into our environment, almost as if they actually want to care about their people..
well they can clean up the water going in but the river bed will have the contamination of over a century on it only takes something to stir up silt up river to put lots of nasty s back into the water
I think it was brilliant to try and clean up the Seine rather than to spend 1.4 billion on stadia, and Olympic villages and other infrastructure, which is essentially useless after the event. As for saying it's premature to swim in it - on odds, it's probably safer than crossing the road, let along driving every day!! Vive La France! I wish other countries would try and clean up their capital city's river. And all their other waterways, too! (BTW, I enjoyed the video, although Its a shame you didn't report about what has been happening upstream, where farmers have been financially encouraged to grow organically.)
They even will fix the remaining issues in just a few years. The 1.4 Million have four effects. First off all someone opened the topic of cleaning the seine and back it with money. Second id say that 75% of the money needed to clean up the seine already has been invested. Third the legeslation has been updated so that new houses have to have a separate sewage system. Fourth with that amount of money, it already showing Sucess, the legislation and the overall good publicity, they reached a point of no return. As everyone who stops the clean up just gets a big backlash from economists ecologist and the overall public. Which are the big 3 off political approval. I think around 2030 Parisians will wonder how the could live with a dirty seine
Why don't they put some oysters in their and some fish that love poop and algae some other fish and crabs 😅😅😅 that'd be awesome
If you take a glass of water from the Seine and take it home, it will crawl out and get back into the Seine. It's that much better.
with olympic's athletes job?
I watched this a few months back for anyone else interested in what Paris did to help clean up the Seine - ua-cam.com/video/S1SMO8CYF3s/v-deo.htmlsi=kZghpmkFBgaffgCP
Why don't cities create a better system than just dumping sewage into rivers, surely there's something that can be done as an alternative