Onlookers often mistake Ira Gershenhorn’s love of swimming in the Hudson River as a sign of distress. When the 72-year-old takes his weekly dip uptown, passersby have begged him to return to shore, telling him “don’t do it!” Once, they even called 911.
“The police came, but not just a couple of police. It was the Coast Guard, a very large ship, helicopters, EMS, fireboats. It was like the whole Navy was out,” Gershenhorn said.
Most New Yorkers aren’t as daring as Gershenhorn, who typically goes into the Hudson near a wastewater treatment plant by Riverbank State Park.
While it’s not illegal to swim in the Hudson, the East River and other bodies of water around the city, advisories tend to keep people from diving in during beach season.
Cleaning up more waterways and making them swimmer-friendly would give New Yorkers who don’t live near pools or beaches an easy place to swim. But doing so would be expensive. The city’s aging sewer system has 700 outfalls — or pipes — along the city’s waterfront that discharge street litter and raw sewage directly into the rivers during heavy rain. A Gothamist review of upgrade costs found it would cost more than $36 billion to modernize the sewers to prevent the runoff.
“There's lots of causes of potential pollution in New York water, but this combined sewer overflow is like the biggest issue there,” said Paula Croxson, an open water swimmer who is on the board of directors for New York Open Water, which advocates for more public access to city waterways.
Only 14 miles of the city's 520-mile coastline – or less than 1% – is publicly accessible for swimming. The reasons for those restrictions are evident in the Hudson River, which Gershenhorn swims wearing a GoPro, goggles, swimming cap, tow float and flippers.
Riverkeeper estimated in 2022 that it would cost more than $1 billion to fix sewers feeding into seven sewage treatment plants within the Hudson River watershed in the city.
Gershenhorn, who lives in the Upper West Side, said he swims in the Hudson River in part to make a point to political leaders like Gov. Kathy Hochul, who he noted is also a swimmer.
”The water should be cleaned up, so more people can swim in it,” he said.
The city’s Department of Environmental Protection estimates that in Jamaica Bay alone, four wastewater treatment plants dump about 40,000 pounds of nitrogen per day, making it one of the world's most nitrogen-polluted bodies of water. More than 27 billion gallons of untreated sewage and stormwater are dumped into New York Harbor annually.
New York City's sewers are often overwhelmed during heavy rainfall, which leads to litter and sewage running off into the waterways.
The sewage system affects New Yorkers’ environment on a regular basis, even if they don’t realize it. On Tuesday, the city’s beach water quality website showed bacteria levels advisories at the White Cross Fishing Club in the Bronx and Douglaston Manor in Queens.
Those alerts likely aren’t going anywhere. Currently, the DEP is upgrading about 70 miles of sewer annually, roughly 1% of the total system per year. At this rate, the sewer overhaul could take another century. In 2008, the state released a conservative estimate of $36.2 billion to modernize the city’s sewers – a figure that has surely ballooned since then. The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation did not respond to inquiries seeking an updated estimate.
But even if the sewers were fixed to make the water safe to swim in, other logistical problems would also have to be addressed.
Swimmers would need to be protected from boat traffic. Much of the shoreline is rocky or fenced in and would require landscaping to make entering the water easier. The Hudson’s powerful currents also shift with the tides, creating a potentially dangerous environment.
“The current is sometimes incredibly strong there,” Croxson said, noting that the New York Triathlon's swimming portion has a reputation for being easy thanks to the Hudson.
There are only four public swimming access points along the Hudson River's 315-mile stretch, and all are located north of New York City, according to Riverkeeper. A popular new “beach” that opened last year on the Hudson River south of 14th Street is only for sunbathing, not swimming.
A floating pool touted by Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams and planned for the East River next summer would rely on a filtration system. But it’s unclear if the pool would remain open during periods when sewage is discharged into the river.
Dan Shapley, an advocate at Riverkeeper, saw the lack of swimming in the city as an equity issue.
“Access to swimming, it's an important justice issue in all kinds of ways because kids that don't learn to swim are more likely to drown. And that disproportionately impacts communities of color right now who don't have access to pools,” Shapley said.
“We have rivers all around us. We want to use them,” he said.
