This August, urban river swimming was on public display as the world’s best athletes raced through the iconic Seine River during the Olympic triathlon. And while the Seine did not perform as well as I had hoped—with two training days canceled due to substandard water quality—any swimming in the river at all gives hope to urban waterways across the world.

French officials have spent roughly $1.5 billion on repairing and upgrading their sewer system to keep sewage from flowing into the river during rainstorms. Data was collected to show when bacteria levels were low enough for safe swimming. And in June, 2024, Paris’ intrepid Mayor Anne Hidalgo swam laps in the river to prove its cleanliness. (It was later reported that bacteria levels were slightly above water quality standards on that day).

Of all the riverkeepers I spoke with in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, this is essentially the path to a swimmable river: spend significant sums of money to reduce sewage overflows and other forms of runoff, set up a monitoring system to determine when bacteria levels are low enough for swimming, and open up public swimming in some form or fashion.

So how are the Chesapeake’s major cities doing in this ambitious effort?

Let’s start with the gold standard for urban swimming first: Richmond, Virginia. For decades, swimming has been not only legal in Richmond, but embedded into the city’s ethos. The James River Park System manages seven different sites where folks can get into the water and swim, and in 2012, Outside magazine named Richmond the Best River Town in America. According to Tom Dunlap, Riverkeeper with the James River Association, the city has closed nearly 20 potential sewage overflow locations in the past ten years. The James River Association tests water quality at seven locations in Richmond every Thursday and makes the data available by Friday.

However, maintaining water quality is an ongoing challenge for the city. In July, major sewage overflow put Richmond under a rare recreational advisory. And according to Dunlap, the city still has 25 active combine-sewage overflow sites that periodically spill into the river when it rains.

“We’re still facing issues with water quality that require attention from the state and the federal government,” Dunlap said.

In Baltimore, visions of a swimmable Inner Harbor are led primarily by the Baltimore Waterfront Partnership. Weeks before the Mayor of Paris swam in the Seine, the Mayor of Baltimore was doing the same in the Baltimore Harbor during the city’s 2024 Harbor Splash. Over the past several years, Baltimore has invested $1 billion on repairing and upgrading sewer systems, which has reduced sewage overflows by 76%.

A group of people in floatation vest jump into the water off of a dock

Harbor Splash 2024 participants jump into the Baltimore Harbor at Bond Street Wharf in Fells Point in Baltimore, MD Sunday, June 23, 2024. (Rhiannon Johnston/Chesapeake Bay Program)

The Watershed Partnership has collected water samples since 2019 and organized the swim event to celebrate the harbor’s improvement.

“80% of the time, the water was safe for recreation,” said Adam Lindquist, the partnership’s Executive Director.

In Washington, D.C., the nonprofit Anacostia Riverkeeper has been working to coordinate their own River Splash. Data collected by the Anacostia Watershed Society shows that on certain days bacteria levels are low enough for swimming. According to Anacostia Riverkeeper Trey Sherard, this is largely due to 25 years of major utility upgrades by D.C. Water and Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. However, the River Splash was canceled twice this summer as untimely storms spiked bacteria levels.

Progress in the Anacostia River and Baltimore Harbor might seem enviable to those in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. According to Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Ted Evgeniadis, Harrisburg suffers weekly sewage overflows that make swimming in the Susquehanna River untenable.

“All it takes is a drizzle for us to see a [sewage] overflow,” Evgeniadis said.

The closest thing that Harrisburg has to potentially swimmable water is at City Island Beach, a popular tourist destination on the Susquehanna. Evgeniadis said water quality samples in that location are sometimes safe enough for swimming and he’s working with the city to coordinate future public swim events.

According to the riverkeepers I spoke with, having an urban waterway safe enough for swimming isn’t just a perk, but a public right under the Clean Water Act.

“The health of and access to urban waters has long been neglected,” said Kate Fritz, CEO of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. “From burying streams to develop more land to converting them into conveyance systems for polluted stormwater, to placing dumpsters and trash receptacles at the edges of their banks, these areas have been marginalized for generations.”

Though often a burden, rivers can also be an economic and cultural backbone for Chesapeake cities. In Harrisburg, Evgeniadis says that there is a ton of potential for swimming, fishing, kayaking, and other forms of outdoor tourism. “You clean up the river and you’re going to make more money,” Evgeniadis said.

Councilman Mark Conway, who attended the Harbor Splash and is the former Executive Director of the Baltimore Tree Trust, said that a swimmable Baltimore Harbor would elevate an already popular destination.

“We have a world-class aquarium. We have world-class seafood. Why shouldn’t we have a world-class harbor where anyone can swim?” Conway said.

Perhaps the most significant benefit of a swimmable river is the connections people get to make with the water. You don’t have to be the Mayor of Paris to know that if you can swim in a river then you’re more likely to care about it and keep it healthy.

As put by Sherard, “Of all the ways to relate to a body of water, swimming in it is maybe the most complete and profound.”