Parisians and their mayor, Anne Hidalgo, took a dive in the River Seine on Wednesday, July 17, roughly 10 days ahead of the July 26 start of the Paris Olympics.
The event aimed to dispel fears that the river would not be clean enough to host Olympic events as planned. The French Sports Minister had already dunked in the river on Saturday.
City employees, journalists and a handful of everyday Parisians were also invited to take part in the event.
Thousands of homes and hundreds of boats on the Seine have been connected to sewer networks; rainwater storage facilities meant to prevent sewage overflows have been built; and additional means of treating water have been deployed in water treatment plants.
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