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As recently as the 1940s, New Yorkers swam in in the Hudson and East Rivers. A safer alternative to swimming directly in the river, the kept residents cool in hot summer months until they were closed over sanitation concerns. 

Now, as the city contends with heat, can New Yorkers once again turn to the rivers to stay cool?

The team behind , an initiative to bring a floating swimming pool to the East River, is betting on it. The organization鈥檚 proposed cross-shaped, Olympic-size pool would differ from its historic predecessors in one significant way: filtration. One million gallons of filtered East River water would flow through the pool daily鈥攐ffering a new, supervised space for New Yorkers to escape the heat. The project was first proposed in 2010, but increasingly frequent heat waves, a result of climate change, have given the project new urgency, its supporters say.

New York has the in the country. On average, its urban heat islands are hotter than surrounding areas. Low-income of color are impacted by extreme heat鈥攁 legacy of racist policies that have saddled neighborhoods with fewer green spaces and more heat-trapping asphalt and concrete. And many of these communities to safe swimming spaces.

鈥淭he increased instances of extreme heat are only making public [swimming] access more desirable,鈥� says Kara Meyer, managing director of + POOL. Cleanups, new filtration technologies, and sophisticated water-quality monitoring could make river swimming once again an appealing, and safe, option.

A Global Trend

It鈥檚 not just New Yorkers who are rethinking their relationship with their waterways. With heat waves increasing in frequency, intensity, and duration because of , a growing number of cities are opening rivers and lakes to swimming.

River swimming is a popular pastime in European cities like Copenhagen, Berlin, , , and . is spending $1.5 billion to clean up the Seine and open it to swimmers ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games. 

Cities like Boston, , ., and Portland, Oregon, have either opened their rivers to swimmers or announced plans to build swimming infrastructure.

鈥淎s a climate solution, being able to swim in your local waters just seems like a no-brainer,鈥� says Jake Madelone, senior waterfront education coordinator at , a group that advocates for making New York鈥檚 520-mile shoreline more accessible and resilient to climate change. 

Urban waters across the United States since the passage of the Clean Water Act a half-century ago. The East and Hudson rivers are significantly now than in the past, thanks in large part to investments in the city鈥檚 facilities. (The East River is actually a saltwater tidal estuary.) Competitive swimmers in the waters, although still do not meet Environmental Protection Agency for swimming.

鈥淭he cities that are really embracing urban river swimming have done massive cleanups,鈥� says Meyer. Copenhagen its sewer and wastewater treatment systems in the early 2000s and has since added and a to its harbor. Boston is some combined sewers, which carry sewage and stormwater, to limit overflow of untreated combined sewer overflows, or CSOs, into its harbor. 

But there are other ways to provide access to waterways while those cleanups are underway. officials have said they plan to use machine learning to forecast contamination in the Seine and deliver mobile alerts to swimmers. , a , mobile floating pool on a barge, already docks in the Bronx.

Building Safer Connections to the Water

Urban waterways are a crucial climate solution鈥攂ut they鈥檙e not equally accessible to all communities. Black Americans are to know how to swim and are more likely to than white Americans, that can be traced back to segregation. drained and shuttered public pools to avoid allowing in Black swimmers鈥攐r lacked resources to maintain public pools when white people fled to the suburbs. 

Urban public recreational spaces, including waterfronts and waterways, 鈥渉ave historically, in many ways, been exclusionary,鈥� says , a Portland State University professor who studies urban climate adaptation. Any plan to open up new swimming spaces needs to redress that, he says. 鈥淲elcoming people into these outdoor swimmable spaces is really important,鈥� Shandas says. 鈥淏eing explicit about [their] belonging has to go hand in hand with any physical change of the environment.鈥� 

For many Americans, are too expensive, inaccessible, or unwelcoming. Lifeguards often teach swimming, but the nationwide lifeguard shortage鈥攄ue to declining pay and a 鈥攎eans even are available. In New York, the city鈥檚 were operating at limited capacity due to lifeguard shortages. 

Volunteers with + POOL have been providing free swimming lessons at pools around the city since 2015, and the organization is creating a lifeguarding workforce development program with Henry Street Settlement, a local nonprofit. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not equitable access to the river if people don鈥檛 know how to swim or don鈥檛 have the opportunity to learn,鈥� Meyer says. 

Advocates like Meyer may have the political support they need to get more New Yorkers in the water. In 2021, the city鈥檚 planning department released a that aims to 鈥減romote opportunities to get onto and into the water.鈥� The plan proposes floating river pools in addition to longer-term investments in improving water quality and coastline infrastructure.

Mayor Eric Adams has in support of + POOL, and there are currently before the City Council that would increase access to free swimming lessons, build new swimming pools in , and address the lifeguard shortage. 

If + POOL has its way, some of the barriers between communities and their surrounding waterways could soon disappear. 鈥淲e should be able to enjoy our natural environment, particularly in New York, where we have this resource all around us,鈥� Meyer says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so much opportunity for the taking. We just need to design specific, safe access points.鈥�

This article originally appeared in , an editorially independent, nonprofit news service covering climate change. Follow