Big news this summer for river swimmers: You can now splash around the capital’s famous body of water! Sadly, it’s the capital of France. The Seine is open for swimming ; the Potomac and Anacostia remain unsafe. Here’s a look at how they compare.

Paris

Why It’s Polluted: At the Olympics in 1900, athletes swam in the Seine. But over time, pollution accumulated from human and animal waste, boats, and debris. And Paris has a combined sewer system, so wastewater and stormwater flow through the same pipes. By the late 1960s, about 60 percent of the city’s sewage went into the river.

Year Swimming Was Banned: 1923

The Cleanup Plan: In 1990, Paris’s mayor set a goal to open the Seine to swimmers. Efforts picked up in 2015, when the city announced that the river would be swimmable for the

See Full Page