[00:00.00]The organization supervising the Olympic triathlon event at the Paris Olympics has postponed the event because of water quality in the Seine River.
[00:14.73]However, World Triathlon and city officials are hopeful the event, which includes swimming, bicycling, and running, can start on July 31.
[00:31.84]World Triathlon is the sport's governing body, overseeing competitions and safety.
[00:40.58]Its technical and medical team met with the International Olympic Committee, and city and local French government officials.
[00:52.49]They decided to postpone the event because of water quality.
[00:59.04]Tests in June showed unsafe levels of E. coli bacteria although results in July showed improvement.
[01:10.78]Dr. Nicole Iovine is an infectious disease specialist at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
[01:20.63]She said while most kinds of E. coli are not harmful, high numbers can be dangerous.
[01:31.46]The presence of E. coli is a sign that human and animal waste is in water.
[01:39.69]The World Triathlon Federation considers E. coli levels higher than 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters to be unsafe.
[01:55.65]Swimming in water with unsafe levels of bacteria can lead to feeling sick to the stomach and intestinal problems.
[02:07.44]Swimmers are likely to swallow water, which can lead to diarrhea.
[02:14.05]The bacteria can also infect the urinary tract or open cuts.
[02:21.07]Iovine said, "The athletes are young, and they're in the best shape of anybody...But that doesn't mean they can't get sick from these things."
[02:35.15]Officials are hoping for sunny weather.
[02:39.26]The ultraviolet light in sunlight can kill bacteria and higher temperatures bring levels of E. coli and other bacteria in the river water to within safe limits.
[02:56.63]French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra told French news media on Monday that officials are "absolutely serene about all this."
[03:10.42]She said plans put in place to control the bacterial levels in the river have worked, but the weather was beyond their control.
[03:22.89]Swimming in the Seine River has been banned for more than 100 years.
[03:29.75]But Olympic officials wanted to have the swimming part of the triathlon event in the city's famous waterway.
[03:41.32]So, Paris officials spent $1.5 billion to clean up the Seine.
[03:50.14]Paris is an ancient city.
[03:53.91]And like many old cities, it has what is known as a combined sewer system.
[04:01.43]That means the city's wastewater and storm water flow through the same pipes.
[04:09.39]When heavy rainfall happens, the pipes carry the extra "storm water" along with wastewater into the river instead of a sewage treatment center.
[04:24.58]As a result, untreated human waste goes directly into the river after heavy rains.
[04:33.20]Iovine said bacteria, viruses and parasites get into the water through human waste. But other things too.
[04:45.36]"It's also wildlife - rodents, for example. When it rains a lot, all of that from those animals can end up in the Seine," she said.
[04:57.17]To prevent the wastewater overflow, Paris officials built a huge basin next to the Austerlitz train station.
[05:08.93]It is supposed to capture extra rainwater to keep waste from flowing into the river.
[05:16.85]They also rebuilt parts of the sewer system and improved water treatment centers.
[05:24.67]However, heavy rain can still overwhelm the system.
[05:30.58]The rain that took place during the weekend of the Olympic opening ceremonies filled the basin by 20 percent.
[05:41.39]So, officials said the pollution was likely coming from wastewater upstream.
[05:50.01]If the water quality does not improve, officials are considering holding the event on August 2.
[05:59.50]I'm Caty Weaver.
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Words in This Story
unit -n. one amount of something
urinary tract -n. (medical) the tubes that carry liquid waste from the kidneys out of the body
serene -adj. peaceful and untroubled
sewer -n. pipes used to carry wastewater
basin -n. an area or container that holds water
upstream -adj. the part of a river or stream that is closer to the source (opposite: downstream)
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