Floating Pool May Come to Brooklyn Bridge Park

By on February 15, 2024 10:28 pm in 11201, brooklyn bridge park, Fitness & exercise, Government

Almost thirteen years ago our founder, John “Homer Fink” Loscalzo, reported about a proposal to build a large plus-sign shaped floating swimming pool that would sit in the East River off of Brooklyn Bridge Park. The pool would use East River water filtered to remove bacteria and other pollutants. This idea seemed to have died. Now, according to AFAR Magazine, it has received support from Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, and $16 million has been allocated “to build the pool, a smaller version of which will be constructed and tested this summer, in preparation for opening the full pool to the public in the summer of 2025.”

Image: + Pool.

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  • Effective Presenter

    Downtown Brooklyn needs an aquatic center, like the Asphalt Green Aquatic Center to Gracie Mansion.

    An aquatic center that opens at 5am to 10pm with a locker room to shower and proceed to work.

  • Arthur Currie

    Is the Dodge Y crowded? I have small children that need to learn to swim.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    Am I the only one who remembers a great floating pool that was parked off Brooklyn Heights one summer? I use to go every other day. I loved it.
    I believe it was approximately 15 years ago give or take.

  • Andrew Porter

    What we really need is a velodrome, for the thousands of bike racing fans here. Oh, wait…

  • Banet

    I remember it and LOVED it. So much so that when the +Pool was announced as an idea over 15 years ago I promptly donated $500. Allegedly I’ll have my name on a tiles somewhere…

    And the Floating Pool was 2007 so… 17 years ago!

  • Effective Presenter

    We remember that floating pool.

  • Jorale-man

    Maybe they should use the money to clean the East River more so that people can actually swim in it? A win for the environment as well as swimmers.

  • Andrew Porter

    The East River is tidal. Gonna clean up the Atlantic while you’re at it?

  • Jorale-man

    Well, the pollution that’s in there has come from local sources from what I understand – the industry in Newtown Creek, or the runoff from city sewers, for instance. It may never be perfect but there’s a lot they could do to still clean it up.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    All NYC sewage is treated, the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creeks are being cleaned up, and no industry has been allowed to dump anything in them for many decades. So what more do you propose to do?

  • Jorale-man

    Go look at the shoreline in Brooklyn Bridge Park sometime. They need to overhaul NYC’s storm sewer runoff for one thing. See:

    https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2019/12/is-it-safe-to-swim-in-new-york-citys-east-river/176617/

    ““Is the East River safe to swim in? Yes, sometimes,” Mike Dulong, senior attorney for the New York water quality advocacy group Riverkeeper, told City & State over the phone.

    Dulong explained that during heavy rainfall, rainwater will run off the city’s streets and industrial properties, along with raw sewage, which then gets discharged into the city’s waterways. About 21 billion gallons of this combined sewage end up in the city’s waterways annually – and this sewage cocktail ends up getting dumped into the East River about 70 times a year. “

  • Banet

    What they said. NOT all sewage is treated. NYC has what’s called “combined outflow” which means sewage and rainwater mix together. The city tries to treat it all, but when it rains heavily the processing can’t keep up so raw sewage dumps into the waterways.

    This is why Brooklyn Bridge Park does not allow kayaking for 24 hours after any rainfall of 1” or more in any 24 hour period.

  • Banet

    Arch, you are flat-out wrong about this. See my comment below.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    I’m not wrong at all. You just don’t comprehend the magnitude of the problem.
    The point is, everything that can be done to clean up the waterways, is being done, within reason. Of course heavy rain will overwhelm the system, 1″ of rain on the land area of NYC comes to over 5 billion gallons, it simply isn’t feasible to contain that much water for treatment in such a short time. Nor is dividing the sewage system into separate streams.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    Again you don’t explain how a mere $16M could be better spent “Cleaning up the East River”. You clearly have no comprehension of the scope of what you propose or have a clue how to accomplish it.
    Besides, The East River it is hazardous to swim it due to of its powerful currents and the unpredictable waves from wakes. Even when clean enough, most people would probably find swimming in it unappealing as the water is cold, murky and hazardous.
    A Public access pool makes much more sense.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7nPOzGeyaw Arch Stanton

    “Brooklyn Bridge Park does not allow kayaking for 24 hours after any rainfall of 1” or more in any 24 hour period”
    Okay the city should spend a Hundreds of Billions of dollars, rebuilding the entire sewer system so some over privileged, douche doesn’t have to wait to go Kayaking.

  • Banet

    Again, Arch, you ARE wrong.

    You wrote – just above – that “all NYC sewage is treated”.

    Which is not accurate (as you’ve now admitted) as heavier rains overwhelm the CSO (combined sewage outflow) and dump sewage into the waterways.

    And apparently it’s dumped on 400 different locations as detailed in this timely article:

    https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2024/02/22/one-major-problem-to-preventing-nycs-return-to-a-clean-water/

    But I’ll give you this Arch – your 5Bn gallon estimate is basically accurate. That is indeed the volume of water that would cover our 300 square miles of land 1” deep. 5.2Bn to be exact.

  • Jorale-man

    I could see swimming in the areas close to the shoreline if the water was cleaner. Look at Paris: They’re making swimming possible in the Seine for the summer Olympics by rebuilding the sewage infrastructure and preventing bacteria from flowing into the river. Cities like Stockholm or Oslo already have swimming in their city rivers. It can be done.

  • clarknt67

    I remember and went a few times and loved it. It was an old barge named the Floating Pool Lady. It’s still up in the Bronx AFAIK.

  • clarknt67

    The city has spent $45B over the last 40 years cleaning the surrounding waterways. In fact the NYC DEP says the East River is safe for swimming and Two Trees is proposing a protected inlet in Greenpoint that would create a swimming beach. Protected is key as the rough and dangerous current and ships are a big impediment to safe swimming. As is the public perception that the water is more polluted than it is. You can donate to the Billion Oyster Project to build a reef which will ultimately clean the water. We need to deal with antiquated sewer design that poor excess sewage into the rivers during flooding events. This is a problem and a very expensive one to fix.

    You can read more here. https://ny.curbed.com/2020/2/3/21120114/east-river-swimming-two-trees-bjarke-ingels-group

  • clarknt67

    Aside from inconveniencing kayakers sewage dumping into rivers is bad for our environment overall. It is a design that made sense for cities 100 years ago when populations and volumes of sewage were a fraction of what they are today. Now it is a legitimate problem cities across the world are working to address.

  • clarknt67

    To my mind the pool, rather than detracting from river and harbor cleanup, enhances it. Enticing people to enjoy the pleasures of our natural surrounds can only lead to prioritizing its caretaking and improvement.