Olympics bet against climate change with Seine swimming. For days, it looked like they would lose

The Paris Olympics bet against climate change when they scheduled some outdoor swimming events in the Seine River, and for a while it looked like they would lose. Heavy rains — something that’s increased with human-caused climate change, especially in Europe — threatened to wash out the swimming portion of triathlon events. It wasn’t until Wednesday, after the men’s competition had been delayed and test events called off, that organizers said bacteria levels in the Seine had dropped enough to allow swimming. The Seine had been too full of waste, including fecal matter, because of urban runoff from those heavy rains. Some scientists say organizers didn’t take climate change and its heavier rains properly into account when they laid plans for the river swims.



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