One Good Thing

One Good Thing

Making the Seine Swimmable

E.J.'s avatar
E.J.
Aug 01, 2025
∙ Paid

Ah Paris. With the iconic Eiffel Tower, Champs D’Elysee and the newly reopened Notre Dame. Imagine a world where an iconic urban river, has for generations deemed too polluted for human contact. No, I’m not talking about the Ganges in India. I’m talking about Paris’ iconic Seine River, and thankfully I’m talking about it in the past because Paris has done something good and transformed the river into a pristine, swimmable waterway.

It only took €1.4 billion (approximately $1.6 billion) in investment and years of effort, but for the first time since a Government ban in 1923, the river is once again clean enough for swimming.

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