Can you swim in the Hudson?

Jun 19

Written By HVNY

It's almost officially summer, it's officially hot, but ... is it safe to go swimming in the Hudson River?

Summer is here, it's been hot, and thankfully, we have this big drink of water between us – the Hudson River – but, is it safe to swim in it? Eat fish from it?

Every summer in the 19th and 20th centuries, millions of people swam in the Hudson River at public beaches and floating pools dotted located along the shoreline. “Worsening water quality conditions, increasingly stringent public health codes, liability issues and increased costs in operating beaches caused many of these facilities to close,” according to the DEC.

In 1984, 200 miles of the river between Hudson Falls and the Battery in New York City was placed on the EPA’s National Priorities List of "the country’s most contaminated hazardous waste sites." For the past 25 years, scientists have been continuously studying the Hudson River and monitoring the water quality from north of Troy to the mouth of the New York Harbor. Through years of research, advocacy (thanks in part to the late folksinger Pete Seeger and his mission to build “a boat to save the river,” the Clearwater Sloop, in 1966), and the dredging of millions of cubic yards of contaminated sediment, the Hudson River is buoying back – but there is still caution to be had before cannonballing into the river.

Riverkeeper has monitored 74 locations between New York Harbor and Waterford began in 2008. See water quality reports at riverkeeper.org

Today, swimming in parts of the Hudson River is “generally safe,” according to the advocacy group Riverkeeper, but it depends where. Riverkeeper has been monitoring the water quality at 74 sample sites monthly, measuring salinity, oxygen, temperature, suspended sediment, and chlorophyll near the river's shore, mid-channel and tributaries. Rainfall can trigger street runoff and sewage overflow, adversely affecting the water quality near shorelines close to cities and villages. For instance, the presence of Enterococcus, bacteria with fecal pathogens, was recently detected at the Annesville Creek near Peekskill, and also near West Point. [ Source ]

If you plan to go cool down in the river, the NYS Health Department advises swimmers to:

Swim at a regulated beach,
Keep your face and head above water,
Don’t swallow any water,
Rinse off when you get back to shore,
Don’t swim, boat or recreate where there’s a lot of vessel traffic.

Take a dip from one of the designated public Hudson River beaches like Kingston Point Beach, Ulster Landing (pictured, up top) or Croton Point County Park in Westchester.

Or ease in like the old days at the rainbow-colored River Pool, which floats in the Hudson River off the Beacon shore. The River Pool (pictured, below) was another part of Seeger’s vision to promote the “use, awareness and stewardship of the Hudson River while providing a safe area for swimming and wading.”

Swimming in the Hudson also depends on how good of a swimmer you are. Remember, this is the Mahicantuck, “the river that flows two ways,” and the tidal estuary’s current can take a fierce hold whether you are swimming or kayaking.