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Swimmable Cities

swimmablecities.org

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101–110 of 197 posts

Re: Swimmable Cities

#101

Post by tobeportable »

elric wrote: post #78

In Belgium, we don't even have swimmable pools. There are too few of them, their opening hours are worthless, going for a swim is stupidly expensive (~8eur), and many pools now require that you show them ID before you're allowed to enter. In all, it's become extremely unpleasant. The results are as depressing as expected: more drownings (especially in the north sea) every year, and kids can barely stay afloat anymore…

In Belgium, I pay 4.5 eur as an adult to use any of the numerous swimming pools around me. Also, I never had to show my ID once in my lifetime to enter said pools. My kids are perfectly afloat and learned to swim with their school by going to the pool every week.

Not denying your personal experience, just sharing another point of view from another part of the country.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#102

Post by 0xbs0d »

AdamN wrote: post #49
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

[OT] how long have you been in Copenhagen? Are you learning Danish or do you get by with basic Danish and just use English?

I moved to Copenhagen a couple of years ago. Still learning Danish but you can get by with knowing only English without any problem. Pretty much everyone can understand you.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#103

Post by codetrotter »

contrarian1234 wrote: post #88
lou1306 wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since all other replies are a bit too concise, I'll try and dive deeper (ha ha). 1) Naturally, rains wash out street grime and small pieces of rubbish which may easily bypass the sewage system altogether and end up in the river. 2) Cities have systems in place to treat wastewaters before releasing them into the rivers. However, these systems need to store yet-untreated water in reservoirs, and heavy rain may fill the…

So naive question.. but how can they ensure all the water upstream is clean? I guess in Copenhagen its water is coming from the Baltic so maybe it's less of a concern (short of container ships having issues near the city). But the Seine river flows through many communities before it reaches Paris. Many opportunities for actors to illegally dump things in the river and for all sorts of nasty runoff agricultural and ot…

> Continuous water testing at the city limits also sounds impractical

Why? Surely a small team of a few people could have that as their job, and it would be completely worth it, to help keep all the people that want to swim safe.

And like, aside from the manual testing of the water that this team would do once or twice per day probably, they could have a few different sensors to catch some of the most likely kinds of pollution.

On top of that add hefty fines and maybe even a year or two of jail time for anyone caught dumping pollutants into the river, and you have a good disincentive against polluting the water.

And have a strong sense of pride of nature in the country so that people will naturally want to be mindful of the environment we live in. Promote this kind of thinking in schools and in public service announcements (billboards, ads, etc) from the government.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#104

Post by l5870uoo9y »

coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

Although the outdoor swimming facilities are amazing, the swimming pools used for sports swimming are still few, small and generally overcrowded.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#105

Post by chilmers »

hk__2 wrote: post #96
nayroclade wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This thread gives me the vibes of arguing for the sake of arguing. You must be new around here

> You must be new around here The commenter you respond to joined HN 4 years before you, with 10 times more karma points.

I was very obviously only making a joke. But ironically your reply perfectly embodies the petty, joyless and argumentative side of HN commenting I was alluding to.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#106

Post by rob74 »

As someone who lives in Munich, the logo of "Isarlust EV" immediately jumped out at me. Unfortunately it's linked incorrectly - here's the correct URL: https://www.isarlust.org/ (German only).

Of course, the task is a bit easier for Munich than for other cities, as it doesn't have a lot of possible pollutants upstream of it. The other side of the medal is that the river is hair-raisingly cold, as it comes pretty directly from the mountains...

Re: Swimmable Cities

#107

Post by tetris11 »

bounder wrote: post #100

This is a great initiative. It is weird if you think about it. Why are our waterways in many cities so polluted and dangerous that you can't use them safely as a human(or any animal)? We should take more care about making the environment we live in safe and accessible for everyone. Amsterdam (and many other cities in the Netherlands) have swimmable parts. I'm coming from Groningen myself and there the government made…

London has many historically swimmable waterways and canals.

Unfortunately 14 years of deregulation by allowing companies to dump waste into rivers have rendered much of these beautiful waterways unswimmable.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#108

Post by ljf »

I used to regularly kayak in the River Thames (London, UK) - I didn't concentrate one day and forgot to keep the kayak always facing the current, and a small boat wake/wave knocked me over. I swallowed a little water while righting myself - as was burping a horrible metallic taste for days after - but I didn't get ill. Might have been helped that within an hour of falling in, I was at a friends 30th, and the alcohol consumed may have had some preventative effect? /s

Re: Swimmable Cities

#109

Post by coreyh14444 »

rvrs wrote: post #20
coreyh14444 wrote: post #9

American living in Copenhagen here. We check all of these boxes. The entire channel that runs through town is swimmable thanks to decades of work cleaning it up. On a warm summer day, you could expect maybe 1000+ swimmers in the water in the city centre across all the locations. We also do Vinterbadere (Winter Bathing) throughout the year. The only time you can't swim is after a day or two of sustained rain and there…

What's the app called? I'd like to reference it to see if I can swim when I visit :D

Here you go: https://www.badevand.dk/

For the record, I've only seen it red once or twice all year, so the odds are already in your favor. And at the more popular swim spots, there will be a physical sign with a little green or red light.

Re: Swimmable Cities

#110

Post by hayd »

tetris11 wrote: post #107
bounder wrote: post #100

This is a great initiative. It is weird if you think about it. Why are our waterways in many cities so polluted and dangerous that you can't use them safely as a human(or any animal)? We should take more care about making the environment we live in safe and accessible for everyone. Amsterdam (and many other cities in the Netherlands) have swimmable parts. I'm coming from Groningen myself and there the government made…

London has many historically swimmable waterways and canals. Unfortunately 14 years of deregulation by allowing companies to dump waste into rivers have rendered much of these beautiful waterways unswimmable.

Nonsense. What deregulation? You think rivers in the uk were pristine or even just cleaner 15 years ago? lol, they were not.
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