There’s a lot we’d do to prove a point, but swimming in poop is generally where we draw the line. Yet on July 17, Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, braved the (suspiciously?) green waters of the Seine in an effort to show it’s safe for Olympic athletes to compete in at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Having invested over $1.5 billion trying to make the Seine swimmable, part of us respects the dedication. But given that a June 21 analysis found two kinds of fecal bacteria in the Seine (even before Parisians threatened to poop in the river – more on that in a second), we’re not entirely convinced.
If you’re new to the Paris poop-scapades, allow us to provide some context. In preparation for open-water events at the Olympics, the French government spent a lot of money trying to make the Seine swimmable. As a form of protest, Parisians threatened to . . . well . . . poop in the river. This included a viral website and corresponding hashtag reading #JeChieDansLaSeineLe23Juin (I shit in the Seine on June 23).
The protest predictably earned plenty of coverage, and – as it was designed to do – it got us thinking. Not just about whether it was defensible for the French government to spend so much money preparing its capital for the Olympic Games, but also about what would happen to the athletes if they did swim in poopy water. Now that Hidalgo has officially taken the plunge, we asked an expert what really happens if you swim in poop.
Experts Featured in This Article
Amesh A. Adalja, MD, is a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Are We All Swimming in Poop?
Much like the Seine, the answer is a bit murky. “Water is never sterile. There are millions upon millions of bacteria, viruses, and other microbes present,” says Amesh A. Adalja, MD. “The key thing is making sure that the levels are not representative of major fecal contamination, which could lead to human illness.”
It’s unclear whether or not Parisians really followed up on their poopy plans for protest, but considering that rain often causes the sewers to overflow into the Seine, it’s possible that it wouldn’t have made a tremendous difference if they did. Swimming in the Seine was originally banned in 1923 due to pollution, and while the French government may want us to believe it’s changed, city testing found unacceptable levels of E. Coli on the majority of days between June 3 and July 2.
Unfortunately, this isn’t just a Paris problem.
In 2022, Environment America found that 1,761 out of 3,192 beaches in the US (55 percent) reached potentially unsafe levels of fecal contamination on at least one of the days they were tested.
More recently, the Surfrider Foundation’s 2023 Clean Water Report found that out of 9,538 water test results, 67 percent indicated low bacteria levels, 11 percent indicated medium bacteria levels, and 22 percent measured high bacteria levels that exceeded state standards for recreational waters. The Foundation also noted that at least one high bacteria result was found in 64 percent of the 567 beaches tested, pointing to sewage spills and inadequate infrastructure as some possible contributors to this pollution. (They didn’t specify what type of bacteria they found, but the report did note that, “Sewage spills and infrastructure failures release over 900 billion gallons of untreated sewage into surface waters every year,” so do with that what you will.)
What Happens If You Swim in Poop?
Given these numbers, it’s worth asking – what happens if you do swim in poop? “Bacterial levels in swimming water are more [of a] surrogate for fecal contamination occurring,” Dr. Adalja explains. “This confers a risk, not only of getting bacterial infections such as E. Coli, but all sorts of pathogens, such as norovirus.” That’s not to mention the GI issues that could occur if water is swallowed (stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea), or the complications of an open wound becoming infected.
If you’re worried you might be swimming in contaminated water, Dr. Adalja recommends cleaning any open cuts or abrasions and applying antibiotic ointment to avoid infection. He also points out that most swimming areas in lakes or rivers post fecal coliform counts, which can help you see how contaminated they really are.
In the meantime? Sorry to Madame Mayor, but it’s probably best to stay out of the Seine.
Chandler Plante is an assistant editor for PS Health & Fitness. Previously, she worked as an editorial assistant for People magazine and contributed to Ladygunn, Millie, and Bustle Digital Group. In her free time, she overshares on the internet, creating content about chronic illness, beauty, and disability.
