Swimming in the city
Early this month, Paris officially opened up three swimming sites on the Seine River. The river made its debut as safe for swimming last summer when several Olympic events were held in the urban river – where swimming was banned for health reasons for more than a century.
It is indeed a sign of the times. Across the developed world, formerly toxic rivers have cleaned up to the point of opening to swimming. Even Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River, famous for carrying so much oil and industrial waste that it caught fire many times in the 20th century, is now open to recreation and, in spots, swimming. So are Boston’s once-filthy Charles, New York’s Hudson, and Washington’s Potomac. All once legendary for their noxiously foul waters.
Similar comebacks from ecological near-death to swim spots have happened on the Rhine, Copenhagen’s inner harbor, Oslo’s harbor, Amsterdam’s Amstel River, and – though not yet officially open – the Spree in Berlin.
Sources: The Guardian, US EPA, and others