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Paris aims for free canal swimming pool for summer

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
Paris aims for free canal swimming pool for summer
Photo: Paris City Hall

Paris chiefs want to see a free swimming area in the city's canal next summer.

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In August, scores of swimmers plunged into the Bassin de la Villette - a man-made waterway in north east Paris, in defiance of a 1923 law.
 
While the day was a huge hit with Parisians, it seems the authorities enjoyed it too.
 
And they want to do something similar for the whole summer in 2017. 
 
In November, the City Hall will officially propose a plan for three swimming pools to be built along the south side of the Quai de la Loire in the 19th arrondissement, incidentally located right in front of The Local France's office. 
 
Photo: GoogleMaps
 
The temporary structures will be built into the actual Bassin, which connects the Canal de l'Ourcq with the Canal Saint-Martin.
 
The smallest of the pools will be for children and just 40 centimetres deep. Another will be up to 120 centimetres in depth, while a third will be reserved for swimmers at 2m deep. 
 
The pools in total would stretch 90 metres end to end, and would take up 16 metres in length. 
 
"We've been monitoring the quality of the water in the Bassin de la Villette since 2009," Jean-Francois Martins, tasked with sports at the City Hall, told Le Figaro newspaper. 
 
Photo: Paris City Hall
 
"Beside the quality of the swimming experience, we also want to improve the biodiversity and the quality of the water in Paris in general. This quality is suitably stable today to guarantee swimming at any time."
 
The City Hall estimates that around 1,000 people would show up to the pools on any given summer day next year.
 
It plans to take down the pools at the end of the summer period, with the hopes of setting them up again in the summer of 2018. 
 
The Bassin de la Villette was inaugurated in 1808 by Napoleon Bonaparte and was a former port area during the industrialisation of rivers.
 
However these days it is the centre for numerous cultural events and has been well and truly gentriifed with numerous trendy bars and restaurants opening alongside the water.
 
Here's a look at the day in August when Parisians took to the canal. Click here for more images from the day. 
 
Parisians ignore 1923 ban to take the plunge in waterwayPhoto: AFP
 
Photo: AFP
 
Photo: AFP
 

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