Chicago’s Once-Disgusting River Just Hosted a Swimming Party

On Sunday, over 250 swimmers dove into the Chicago River for its first open water swim in almost a century.

The Chicago River Swim’s triumphant return this past weekend celebrated the city’s environmental progress and raised $150,000 for ALS research at Northwestern’s Ozdinler Lab and swim-safety education programs at the Salvation Army Kroc Center, according to a recent Chicago River Swim statement.

“Swimming in the Chicago River may sound like a wild idea, but the river has come a long way from its industrial past,†claimed the Chicago River Swim website.

Yeah, right, you’re probably thinking. That’s what they said about Paris’ Seine River during the 2024 Olympics, and yet a number of athletes got sick after swimming in it.

In the last decades, however, Chicago has made significant strides in cleaning up its once fetid river, including stricter environmental regulations to reduce industrial pollution, improved sewage and wastewater treatment, and real-time water quality monitoring, according to an earlier Chicago River Swim statement. These actions have facilitated the return of a number of wildlife species—and now, human swimmers.

Reclaiming the river

“The Chicago River Swim is a symbol of Chicago’s resilience and progress. Once too polluted for recreation, the river has been restored as one of our city’s greatest assets. Today shows how far we’ve come in reclaiming our environment for future generations,†Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in his opening remarks.

The event was a long time coming. The Chicago River Swim was originally planned for 2024, but the city denied the organization’s permit request, citing safety concerns for the proposed route, and the swim ultimately took place in Lake Michigan. This year, 263 swimmers raced on either a one- or two-mile course (1.6 or 3.2 kilometers) to the sound of spectators’ cheers from the city’s Riverwalk.

The University of Illinois Chicago led the water testing efforts along the swim route. According to the Chicago River Swim website, the river is the cleanest in its recorded history.

DAVE MATTHEWS ISN’T HERE

“Yes, the river has a reputation of being a literal cesspool, from years of industrial waste and sewage dumped into it,†Khoa Dao, a volunteer on the river swim’s safety team, wrote in a social media post. “But much like the reputation of the city itself to outsiders, the dangers of the river are a bit exaggerated. Much effort has been made in recent decades to clean the river through various means, so much so that today’s swim race was finally possible.â€

In that spirit, a viewer brandished a poster on Sunday that read, “DON’T WORRY. DAVE MATTHEWS ISN’T HERE,†according to Inside Climate News. The poster references an infamous incident from over two decades ago, when a Dave Matthews Band tour bus dumped hundreds of pounds of human waste into the Chicago River—and onto a tour boat. Luckily, no such incident took place this weekend.