The rise of urban swimming in the United States

Published on May 27, 2026 at 3:15 a.m.

Last summer at the Chicago River Swim, the first in a century on this iconic waterway of stunning skyscrapers and ornate drawbridges, swimmers were captivated by one of the joys of urban swimming: a unique perspective of the city, from the water.

“There were guys who said, ‘I came to be competitive and I ended up sightseeing,’” says founder and organizer Doug McConnell.

From Chicago to New York, Baltimore to Portland, swimmers across America are turning to urban waterways, expanding public access to rivers and harbors through open-water swim races, water parties on piers, permanent swimming beaches and even plans for a floating river pool off the coast of Manhattan.

It’s a movement decades in the making, as anti-pollution laws and billions spent to renovate sewer systems and clean up contaminated riverbeds have made waterways safe for swimming again. It has been bolstered more recently by the growing popularity of open water swimming, inspired by everything from the Olympic debut of a 10k swim in 2008 to the current wellness trend of cold water immersion.

Today, urban swimming advocates benefit from the support of Swimmable Cities, a global grassroots movement created in 2024 that defends the right to swim in urban waterways. The alliance highlights more than 200 member organizations from more than 100 municipalities that have found creative ways to get people safely into municipal waters, and it inspires others to take on the challenge.

“The trajectory we’re on is that swimming will become a major part of urban planning and integrated water management,” says Matthew Sykes, co-founder of Swimmable Cities, which plans to choose a North American city for its next summit in 2027.

“Canada, the United States, Mexico: I think those are all places where we’re going to see a lot of growth,” Sykes says. “There’s the sporting part of this community, but I think the biggest growth comes from everyday people just wanting access to their waters.”

Olympian Olivia Smoliga finished first in the one-mile Chicago River Swim in 2025. (Photo: Chris Costoso)

To be sure, many U.S. rivers and streams remain unsafe for swimming, and those deemed safe may still be marred by sewer overflows or harmful runoff after rains, and swimmers may face hazards from currents and debris. Then there are the bureaucratic obstacles to lifting the swimming bans. And open water swimming may not be a struggling city’s top fundraising prospect.

The biggest obstacle in McConnell’s 13-year quest to put swimmers in the Chicago River was the long-held idea that the river was a toxic soup. “A lot of the problems that these urban swims have faced, not just in Chicago but elsewhere, is not so much that the water is not clean, but rather that people’s perception is that the water is not clean,” McConnell says.

In the weeks leading up to the one-mile and two-mile swims last September, all 72 water tests showed “solidly in the green zone” for safe swimming, says McConnell, who is organizing the event through his family’s nonprofit, A Long Swim, which supports ALS research. The second swim is planned for September 20, with a target of 750 places, compared to 500 previously.

While Chicago Swimming opened access once a year, the Human Access Project (HAP) in Portland, Oregon, has paved the way for permanent access to seven beaches and two piers on the Willamette River since its founding in 2010, with another beach opening this year.

A two-decade, $1.4 billion renovation of the city’s stormwater and wastewater treatment system, completed in 2011, helped clean up the river. HAP and its volunteers removed more than 500 tons of concrete from the river and its banks, explains its executive director, Scott Fogarty.

Now it weighs on Superfund’s pending cleanup of the riverbed, mostly downstream from swimming sites, and adds more evening Splashdown parties and a second weekday Huggers Willamette River crossing.

“We like to say it’s activism disguised as a party,” Fogarty says. “We’re looking at not only greater access, but also more open water swimming in the future. »

The Human Access Project (HAP) transformed the Kevin Duckworth Memorial Dock in Portland, Oregon, into a non-motorized urban swimming pool. (Photo: Dustin Pattison)

In Baltimore, ultramarathon swimmer Katie Pumphrey uses the sport to draw people to the harbor. This year, she launched Baltimore Open Water Swimmers with plans for a one-mile swim this summer in the harbor and, possibly, another in the fall that replicates her famous 24-mile swim in 2024, crossing the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

People tend to ignore environmental progress, but regularly seeing swimmers in the harbor resonates emotionally and even pushes people to try it themselves, she says. It will also partner with learn-to-swim programs.

Pumphrey has the support of Baltimore’s Waterfront Partnership, a nonprofit group that set a goal in 2010 to make the harbor safe for swimming. The water was safe enough for public swimming in 2024, after the city spent more than $1 billion on sewer improvements, said partnership vice president Adam Lindquist. Next, the group plans to hold more summer Harbor Splash events and survey sites for a permanent swim site.

“I hope Baltimore will have better access to recreation,” Pumphrey says, “making sure it’s open and accessible to everyone.”

New York City is eliminating the risk of river swimming with its proposed floating pool in the East River near the Manhattan Bridge. Over the past decade, the +POOL initiative has gathered public and government support for free and safe access to the river through the concept of a plus-sign-shaped swimming pool with filtered river water flowing through its walls.

Kara Meyer, executive director of +POOL, expects a smaller pilot pool to be tested off Pier 35 this summer and open to swimmers in 2027.

There’s no specific date for when +POOL will open, but the organization has already achieved another first: establishing a regulatory pathway for other organizations seeking approval for what the state calls new swimming facilities, such as a swimming beach next to a park.

Swimming groups have been organizing special swims around Manhattan or the Statue of Liberty for years, but Meyer says about 500 of New York’s 520 miles of waterfront (aside from designated beaches like Coney Island in Brooklyn) are not classified for swimming.

“We’re really proud of this policy work and we hope other people benefit from it,” Meyer says. “We have a vision that people across New York City access their waters safely.”

Patrick Scott is a Denver-based travel writer who has swum the Nile, Ganges, Mekong and Rhine Rivers, and now frequents 10K swims in the tropics. His adventure stories, often involving water in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, have been published in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and others.

This article is from the Summer 2026 issue of Outside magazine. To receive the print magazine, become an Outside+ member here.

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