Around the world, swimming has returned to local waterways. What about Hoboken?

FBW | October 6, 2025

Hundreds of swimmers dove into the Chicago River on September 22 for a series of distance races. This was the first time in 98 years that a swim event took place in the Chicago River.

The Chicago River, like so many waterways around the world, was formerly used as a dumping site for sewage and industrial waste. Chicago’s massive slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants dumped animal wastes into the river. The City’s combined stormwater and sewer system was the source of fecal coliform bacteria. The Chicago River threatened the city’s water source as it flowed into Lake Michigan.

Given the river’s fetid history, the news of the swim came as a shock to many. Was this a safe, healthy activity in which to participate? The answer appears to be yes.  Advanced water quality tests were conducted beginning 19 days before the event to ensure that human exposure was safe.  

The Chicago River Swim was inspired by a similar charity event, a swim in the canals of Amsterdam, an annual event that started in 2011. The 2024 Olympics in Paris held triathlon and marathon swimming events in the River Seine, which had been off limits for swimming since 1923 due to severe contamination. Paris now allows swimming in three supervised sites in July and August featuring lifeguards, safety buoys and daily water quality checks.

The federal Clean Water Act of 1972 was a turning point for the health of rivers in the US. In the years since, federal, state and local regulations have put an end to many polluting practices. The Riverkeeper movement began in the 1980s and soon spread across the U.S., closely monitoring the health of rivers and identifying sources of pollution.

The Riverkeeper movement started with the Hudson River Fishermen’s Association in 1966. Like other rivers around the world, the Hudson River suffered from more than a century of abuse. Today, however, water quality has improved considerably. 

In 2023, during the months of August and September, Lewis Pugh, a British endurance athlete, swam the 315-mile length of the Hudson River, starting at its source, Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains and finishing at Battery Park City at the south end of Manhattan. Pugh stated at the time, “I did it to highlight the importance of clean rivers.”

Several swims now take place around Manhattan every year. The 20 Bridges Swim Around Manhattan is a 28.5-mile marathon swim. Solo swims follow a similar route with personal support crews. Urban Swim, a New York City-based organization, has promoted shorter distance events such as PRIDE Swim Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty Swim and the Liberty to Freedom Swim. 

As more people participate in kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding and swimming, there is also an increased interest in further improvements to water quality in our rivers. Water testing conducted in the Hudson River and other waterways within the New York and New Jersey Harbor Estuary began on a regular basis in 2012. Over the years, the number of test sites and sampling has grown, with samples taken on a weekly basis over the 20 weeks from May through September. 

The data is reported on the Billion Oyster Project’s website. One thing is clear, it is not safe to swim in the Harbor Estuary rivers when it rains or the day after a rain. During dry weather, tests often showed water to be safe for swimming but not always. A summary of data from 2024 showed that 51% of the tests showed that water quality was unsafe for swimming and 31% of the tests found safe conditions for swimming.