\n<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people plunged into the Chicago River\u2019s chilly waters on Sunday as part of the first organized swim in the river for nearly 100 years, a previously unthinkable act in what was once one of the most befouled waterways in the world.<\/p>\n
About 300 people, some wearing wetsuits, jumped into the Chicago River for a mile-long looping swim on an early, overcast midwest morning, a feat made possible by the often unseen but crucial progress the US has made in the past half century in cleaning its rivers of toxic pollution.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s overwhelming to see this happen, it\u2019s unbelievable to see swimmers swim past us now,\u201d said Doug McConnell, the main organizer of the event.<\/p>\n
McConnell, a Chicago area native and co-founder of A Long Swim, had been pushing the city\u2019s leadership for more than a decade to allow a swim in the river, the first such event since 1927, having witnessed the blossoming urban river swimming movement take hold in cities such as Paris, Munich and Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing that really planted a seed, and we are thrilled we are finally doing this and that it has got global attention \u2013 we had applications across the US and 13 countries,\u201d said McConnell, who hopes this will become an annual event and spread to other US cities.<\/p>\n
McConnell didn\u2019t leap into the water on Sunday but is an accomplished long-distance swimmer, having traversed the English Channel, which he recalls as \u201c14 hours of getting slapped around\u201d, and swam around the island of Manhattan, all in aid of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) fundraising.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the water conditions will surprise people because it will be cleaner than they expect,\u201d he said. \u201cThe psychology of so many Chicagoans was that the river is untouchable \u2013 this isn\u2019t true and we are proving this today.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy grandfather grew up in Chicago and I think what his reaction to all of this would be because the river had an absolutely toxic reputation then. It was repulsive, absolutely untouchable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chicago River has a long history of being meddled with. Each year it is dyed green for St Patrick\u2019s Day and, infamously, in 2004 the tour bus of Dave Matthews Band released 800lbs (363kg) of human waste through a bridge grate that landed on top of a boat of mightily unfortunate sightseers traveling on the river.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Chicago initially grew by treating its slow-moving river as an unfettered dumping area. Sewage and other waste was routinely funneled into the river, including carcasses and effluent from huge slaughterhouses that clustered beside the waterway \u2013 to the extent that a section of the river is still called \u201cbubble creek\u201d due to the gas given off by the rotting sludge on the riverbed.<\/p>\n
The river became so foul, causing deadly outbreaks of cholera and typhoid, that the city took the extraordinary step in 1900 of reversing the river\u2019s flow by creating a system of canals and locks, to avoid Chicago\u2019s source of drinking water in Lake Michigan becoming poisoned. Today, the 156-mile (265km) river meanders from Lake Michigan through Chicago so its water ultimately empties into the Gulf of Mexico.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe treated the river like it was part of the sewer system, which haunted us,\u201d said Margaret Frisbie, the executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. Riverside buildings typically didn\u2019t even have windows overlooking what was known as \u201cthe stinking river\u201d, with the ribbon of water shunned as part of Chicago\u2019s civic fabric.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil just a few years ago people would\u2019ve thought it would be outrageous to jump into it,\u201d Frisbie said. When Friends of the Chicago River formed in 1979 with a vision to restore the ecological function of a river that could be enjoyed by people and wildlife alike, \u201cpeople thought we were crazy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Yet the 1970s was a seminal decade for environmental protection in the US, with the passage of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) \u2013 bringing new restrictions on pollution dumped into rivers, streams and lakes. Where once American rivers were so toxic they could catch fire, a new era had begun that would allow US cities to think more affectionately of their foundational waterways.<\/p>\n
In Chicago, the slaughterhouses shut down, new sewage and storm water infrastructure was built and teams of volunteers, as they do to this day, toiled to clean up trash.<\/p>\n
Dozens of species of fish returned, as did beavers and snapping turtles such as Chonkosaurus, an enormous, locally famous specimen sometimes seen lounging by the river.<\/p>\n
In 2016, a riverside public pathway was completed to knit the downtown area to its adjacent water, allowing Chicagoans in new bars and restaurants to gaze upon a river that is no longer a fetid soup, a place clean enough that people can now swim in it. On 12 September, it was announced that Friends of the Chicago River won an international prize in recognition of the river\u2019s transformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many people are on rental boats on the river these days \u2013 it\u2019s heaving with people,\u201d Frisbie said. \u201cPeople want to work near the river, live near it, be on it. It\u2019s remarkable to see people have that connection with it again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis swim is emblematic of all the work we\u2019ve done over the past 50 years to improve our rivers. It shows you can change the destiny of any natural resource and do some good. It feels that\u2019s something we need right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
America\u2019s rivers may now increasingly be places of scenic recreation rather than industrial sacrifice zones, but this does depend on the vicissitudes of politics. The Trump administration is narrowing the application of the Clean Water Act, which helped ensure healthier rivers, and is similarly weakening rules on what coal plants and factories can dump in waterways. The bad old days may be a thing of the past, but ongoing progress isn\u2019t guaranteed.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the federal government retreats from enforcement, things could slide backwards,\u201d Frisbie said. \u201cIt\u2019s incumbent on cities, countries and states to be vigilant. Our river is beloved now \u2013 people want to use it, wildlife needs it, we need it. We want to maintain that rather than see it roll back.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday, though, few swimmers were mulling such weighty topics as they lined up in robes, serenaded by the skirl of the Chicago police department\u2019s bagpipes and drum, before stripping and vaulting into the river, bobbling flotation devices tethered to their waists.<\/p>\n
Organizers had zealously tested the water in the weeks before the event, finding that the river was consistently safe in terms of EPA standards on fecal coliform \u2013 essentially, poo in the water. The river was scanned, too, for any potential obstructions to the swimmers.<\/p>\n
Among the participants for the first river swim in 98 years \u2013 all strictly vetted to ensure they could complete the course \u2013 was Olivia Smoliga, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and went on to win a gold medal in backstroke at the 2016 Olympic games.<\/p>\n
Open water swimming is a different beast to the lanes of a pool, but Smoliga\u2019s competitive spirit compelled her to speed around the river loop, even though it was not intended to be a race.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have people throwing elbows there \u2013 you have to watch out for fingernail length, everything,\u201d she said. \u201cThe fact they were able to clean up the river and do such great work, to have this full on race happen, is trippy. But it\u2019s really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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