At the recent Charles Bender Memorial Swim near Norristown, swimmers waxed poetic about the Schuylkill River, writes Zoe Greenberg for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Using words like “delightful,” “lovely,” and “really clean” to describe the water, they say the river’s sometimes bad reputation doesn’t hold any water with them.
“Most people have this mentality that the Schuylkill is dirty and it’s disgusting and ‘I don’t ever want to go there.’ Believe it or not, that is left over from our grandparents’ generation,” explained John Kenny, the founder of French Creek Racing, the open-water training company that hosted the recent race.
One of the race categories was a 15K at dawn. Swimmers tested their endurance during a three-hour plus loop through the river.
The Schuylkill got a reputation for being one of the dirtiest rivers in the country in the 1930s, but after the federal Clean Water Act was passed in the 1970s, river conditions have been better.
Despite cleaner water though, a 2022 study found that most people still believe it is too dirty to swim in. Still there are others who have no trouble diving right in.
In Philadelphia city limits, swimming in the Schuylkill is only allowed as a part of organized events. A Philadelphia Parks & Recreation spokesperson explained that this was because of strong currents, underwater debris, and the potential risk of exposure to harmful bacteria.
Read more about the Charles Bender Memorial Swim and swimming in the Schuylkill River in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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