Swimmable Cities Movement Accelerates Worldwide
Big Jump participants leap into the Chicago River at Tom (Ping) Memorial Park in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood.
The day before Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam the Seine as a precursor to the Summer Olympics, Friends of the Chicago River joined urban river swimming advocates from around the world –July 16 – for the launch of the Swimmable Cities Charter.
The alliance of 56 organizations across 17 countries, thus far, is committed to creating an acceptance of swimming in places like Chicago where swimming is culturally rejected even as water quality and legal protections make it possible. Cities can become internationally renowned for swimmability, which has direct economic and social benefits from quality of life to public health, spiritual connection, workplace productivity and tourism.
At the virtual launch event, experts and advocates from Amsterdam to Sydney, Johannesburg to Toronto discussed ways that swimming experiences can be a catalyst for regenerating urban waterways.
According to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), water quality stations are consistently recording levels well within Illinois EPA safety targets for Primary Contact Recreation waters.
“While the swimmable cities movement is accelerating across the globe, the city of Chicago has denied a permit for the first open-water swim in the Chicago River since the 1920s,” said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. “We can do better than this, and the Swimmable Cities Charter shows how people worldwide are creating different strategies to adapt their waterways for safe and beautiful urban swimming experiences.”
Twentieth century swimming superstar Johnny Weissmuller, who was born in poverty and rose to win gold medals in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics, came from Chicago and learned to swim because the city provided free swimming lessons.
This year New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced NY SWIMS, with its emphasis on municipal pools and natural waterways in communities that are underserved or vulnerable to extreme heat, the $150 million plan underscores how access to swimming addresses equity, public health, and climate resilience. New York state and New York City invested $16 million in +Pool, a filtered floating pool, for a demonstration project in the East River this summer.
To demonstrate swimability and recreation in the Chicago River, Friends, and then-MWRD Commissioner Josina Morita, pioneered The Big Jump on the South Branch in 2017 and the Summer Float Party on the North Branch in 2021. These high-profile events highlighted the collective work to improve the river’s water quality and demonstrated a commitment to making the Chicago-Calumet River system swimmable for all.
A Swimmable Cities Handbook is available for learn more about ways to reimagine urban waterways.
