For the third year in a row, the Charles River Conservancy has invited swimmers to take a dip in Boston’s once infamously dirty waterway. Yesterday, about 200 took the plunge.
Today the @CharlesRiverCRC hosted the first of two sanctioned swim events this summer: http://t.co/SnW36PlJWA pic.twitter.com/1lJ2JgpVHh
— WBUR (@WBUR) July 15, 2015
VIDEO: Daring to take a dip in that “dirty water.” Charles River swim yesterday. http://t.co/VUuD9nn1Ob pic.twitter.com/tynhSfNIYZ
— Steve Annear (@steveannear) July 15, 2015
Cities from Los Angeles to New York are increasingly viewing waterways and riverfronts as assets, but cleanup and conservation (and lots of money) are often required to turn them into truly vibrant public spaces.
According to Boston radio station WBUR:
While the water quality of the Charles has improved significantly since the EPA launched its cleanup effort in 1995, it’s still not always safe for swimming. The latest annual Charles River report card found the river met quality standards for swimming 65 percent of the time.
The Charles River Conservancy has been cleaning up the river for 40 years, and a rep says they are pushing to establish a regular swimming area in the next two years.
Jenn Stanley is a freelance journalist, essayist and independent producer living in Chicago. She has an M.S. from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
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