Overview
- Mayor Roberto Gualtieri announced a working group for the project and said national and regional authorities will be involved, with a first committee meeting expected in October.
- City officials have not provided a cost estimate, though Gualtieri argues the effort could cost less than Paris’s €1.4bn Seine program due to lower measured pollution.
- Recent studies reported microplastics, heavy floating waste, ammonia and faecal bacteria in the Tiber, and health experts warn of high risks including E. coli and leptospirosis.
- Swimming has been banned since the 196s with fines for violators, and while some stretches meet standards on certain days, inflows from the Aniene and other discharges keep much of the river unsafe.
- Paris reopened supervised Seine swim sites after years of investment, yet Olympic events still faced bacterial contamination and postponements, highlighting the difficulty of guaranteeing water quality.