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If you’re looking for a new way to cool off this summer, why not try the Charles River? WTBU Environmental reporter Daniel Kool dives into the return of the Charles River Splash — the one day a year residents can swim without a permit.

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Most days of the year, you can enjoy the Charles River in a number of ways — sailing on it, running and biking past, watching it from the train — but, what you can’t do is swim in it. That rule goes off the table June 18 for one afternoon for the City Splash. 

Held in a demarcated deep-water area off of the Fiedler Dock, City Splash is a state-sanctioned swim hosted by the Charles River Conservancy.

This year’s “afternoon of swimming, splashing, and jumping in the river” marks the Conservancy’s 6th year of urban river swims, according to the event website. 

All that’s standing between you and jumping in the river is registration, which opens May 12. 

“Spots are limited, and the event fills up fast! Make sure to set a reminder to get your desired swim time slot,” reads the event website.

If you are looking for something other than just splashing about, the Charles River Swimming Club is hosting a one-mile race between Harvard and Longfellow Bridge. About one fourth of the race spots are still left as of May 4, and registration is online with a fee. 

Normally, swimming in the Charles isn’t allowed — or at least it hasn’t been since the 1950s. Swimming was originally limited due to health risks posed by pollution, according to the Conservancy. 

“After years of environmental health progress, most notably the EPA’s Charles River Initiative, swimming is now allowed through state-sanctioned events such as the Charles River Conservancy’s City Splash events and the Charles River Swimming Club’s annual One-Mile Swim Race, which began in 2007,” the website says.

The first City Splash took place in 2013 and happened annually through 2017, followed by a few years of interruptions by bad weather and the pandemic.

If you aren’t enticed by the prospect of swimming in the river, do not fear. The Conservancy is hosting a variety of on-land activities showcasing how to stay cool in the summer heat and there is an afterparty from 4 to 6 p.m.

SAVE THE DATE! City Splash is BACK on Saturday, June 18th. Stay tuned for information about general registration and the Charles River Swimming Club’s One Mile Swim. If you’re interested in sponsoring City Splash, email us at crc@thecharles.org.⁠

🎥: Aram Boghosian pic.twitter.com/M7V1vOLFLw— Charles River Conservancy (@CharlesRiverCRC) February 23, 2022

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Look, I get it. There’s a big, beautiful body of water with a million-dollar view of two great American cities, and it’s right there: Steps from the Harborwalk and the Esplanade, twinkling in the summer sunlight, and viewable from hundreds of vantage points in both Boston and Cambridge. And you can’t, legally speaking, (and, for various safety reasons due in part to all the amateur sailing that goes on most days, shouldn’t) swim in it.

Eventually the various options available to you for enjoying the Charles River—be it sailing over it, jogging past it, gazing across it from the Red Line—aren’t enough to satiate you. You’ve had your fill of the various middling beaches in and around Boston you can enjoy, curiosity gets the better of you, and you just have to get in there.

Well now, for the first time in a half-decade, you can go ahead and do that, with the full backing of the Commonwealth.

That’s right, folks: City Splash is back!

City Splash is the annual event wherein people can go ahead and swim in the Charles for a while. You can leap off the dock into the Charles, do a backstroke in the Charles, chill out in the Charles, pretend it’s the Head In the Charles Regatta, and eventually smell like the Charles. Hundreds of people do this every year! You can also join the Charlies River Swimming Club in a one-mile swim around the Charles River Basin, if you so choose.

For many years doing such a thing was off-limits 365 days a year. For 50 years, in fact, the Charles River had an anti-being-in-it policy due to poor water quality. A clean-up effort that began in force in the ’90s has since made significant strides in improving things there. And all joking aside for a quick second here, it’s a pretty remarkable achievement that after years of neglect and misuse, the river is safe to occasionally swim in.

The first City Splash was in 2013, and it was held annually until 2017. It went on hiatus in 2018, was plagued by bad weather in 2019, and plagued by the plague in 2020-21. But it’s back, baby!

The traditional soaking in what the Boston Globe once called “the city’s biggest tea-colored swimming pool” is not my particular cup of river water. But if it’s yours, you can find your fellow Charles swimmers at the Fiedler Field Dock on June 18, and if you want to do the mile-long swim, register in advance here.

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The Charles River Conservancy (CRC) and Charles River Swimming Club (CRSC), in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), are proud to announce the Charles River Swimming Day on June 18. The public is invited to participate in the 11th Annual One Mile Swim and the 6th Annual City Splash that day at the DCR’s Fiedler Dock on the Esplanade in Boston, MA. A rain date is planned for June 19. Join the CRC in the evening for an afterparty at Owl’s Nest on the Esplanade. 

Both events return after being canceled during the pandemic and will be held on the same day for the first time ever. “We’re so excited to bring these signature events back to the Charles River to celebrate river swimming and strengthen community connections to this important resource,” said CRC Executive Director Laura Jasinski. “We believe everyone should have access to the Charles to cool off on a hot summer day and we are working to make that a reality. We’ll also be highlighting other ways for community members to beat the heat safely in the summer until that day comes.”

Registration for both events fills up quickly and attracts environmental leaders and advocates in addition to community members. “I have treasured my connection to the Conservancy for a long time, from serving on the board to joining previous City Splash events,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “I’m looking forward to this year’s City Splash and seeing so many enjoy the beautiful Charles River and Esplanade.” 

The one-mile swim has been a favorite for local endurance athletes. “The one-mile race is the only opportunity for competitive swimming in the Charles, and it’s one of the only open water swim races that takes place in Boston,” said CRSC Race Director & President Kate Radville. “One-mile swim registrants get to appreciate iconic views of the Boston skyline at a special location in the heart of the city. We’re looking forward to our eleventh race this year.”

Swimming in the Charles is only possible through a DCR Special Use Permit. The events reflect the agency’s goals to promote safe swimming and use of waterfront resources. Underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic, the health and happiness of people across Massachusetts depend on the accessibility and quality of green infrastructure. DCR continues to improve the vital connection between people and the environment by partnering with groups like the CRC and CRSC, recently increasing opportunities for swim safety by funding swim lessons through the new Safe Water Initiative Massachusetts (SWIM). “The Baker-Polito Administration relies on strong partnerships with stakeholders like the Charles River Conservancy and the Charles River Swimming Club to promote health and wellness to the residents of Massachusetts through recreational activities,” said DCR Acting Commissioner Stephanie Cooper. “The annual Charles River Swimming Day provides a unique opportunity to swim in the Charles River while highlighting the importance of swim safety.”

Below is a brief description of each event. Swimmers can choose the event that fits their style or participate in both! Participants will need to register for each event separately.

The Charles River Conservancy’s City Splash Registration: Coming in May.

Community swim in deep water

Start: mid-day through afternoon

Demarcated swimming area off public dock, for safety reasons restricted to registered participants

25-minute time slots

Deep-water swimmers only!

Age 12+ and confident treading water

You will not be able to touch the bottom

The Charles River Swimming Club’s Annual One Mile Swim

One Mile race

Start: Early morning

1-mile loop course between Harvard and Longfellow Bridge

Participation cap: 200 pre-registered swimmers

Experienced swimmers only!

Age 18+ and capable of swimming 1 mile in 40 minutes or less

You will not be able to touch the bottom

Thanks to the hard work of the EPA’s Charles River Initiative and the dedication of government bodies, environmental groups and nonprofits, the Charles River has made great strides toward better water quality since swimming ended in the 1950’s due to the health risks posed by pollution. Both the CRC and the CRSC look forward to the day when swimming is not just a one-day occurrence, but has a permanent home again in the Charles. In accordance with the CRC’s mission of inviting and engaging all in the Charles River’s use and stewardship, the CRC is excited to increase chances for Boston area residents and visitors to get in the water! “Once a year isn’t enough,” said Jasinski. “We look forward to the day when swimming in the Charles is a regular activity again.”

The Charles River Conservancy (CRC), founded in 2000, is a non-profit dedicated to the stewardship, renewal, and enhancement of the urban parks along the Charles River, from Boston Harbor to the Watertown Dam. With a mission to invite and engage all in the Charles River and its parks’ use and stewardship, the CRC looks for ways to increase opportunities for urban swims.

For more information about the CRC, please visit TheCharles.org or email crc@thecharles.org. Follow the CRC on Twitter @CharlesRiverCRC,  Instagram @CharlesRiverCRC or Facebook Facebook.com/CharlesRiverConservancy

The Charles River Swimming Club, Inc. is an all-volunteer organization founded in 2005 with the dual purpose of organizing competitive swimming events in the Charles River and facilitating the return of public river swimming. 

For more information about the CRSC, please visit charlesriverswimmingclub.org or email raceinfo@charlesriverswimmingclub.org.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is steward of one of the largest state parks systems in the country. Its 450,000 acres is made up of forests, parks, greenways, historic sites and landscapes, seashores, lakes, ponds, reservoirs and watersheds. DCR protects, promotes, and enhances the state’s natural, cultural, and recreational resources for the well-being of all.

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A summertime tradition will return to Boston this summer, allowing swimmers to take a dive into the Charles River.

The Charles River Swimming Day, fondly known as ‘City Splash‘, is set for June 18, welcoming swimmers to take a recreational dip in the water near the Esplanade’s Fiedler Dock. What’s more, this year the Charles River groups are hosting both a one-mile race and the free swim.

The Charles River Conservancy describes the event as a “rare opportunity to swim in the Charles River and raise awareness to bring river swimming back to Boston!”

The annual swimming event wasn’t on the books for 2018, canceled in 2019 due to bad weather, and then postponed during the 2020 and 2021 seasons due to COVID-19.

“We’re so excited to bring these signature events back to the Charles River to celebrate river swimming and strengthen community connections to this important resource,” Charles River Conservancy Executive Director Laura Jasinski said in a statement. “We believe everyone should have access to the Charles to cool off on a hot summer day and we are working to make that a reality. We’ll also be highlighting other ways for community members to beat the heat safely in the summer until that day comes.”

This year’s one-mile race, hosted by the Charles River Swimming Club, will kick off sometime earlier in the morning, with runners following a course looping between Harvard and Longfellow Bridge. The swim, hosted by the Charles River Conservancy, will happen from midday to late afternoon.

Only 200 slots for the swim will be available and swimmers must be 18 years or older. They must also be capable of completing one mile in 40 minutes or less.

Swimmers, who can begin registering in May, will get 25-minute time slots to enjoy a section of the river near the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Fiedler Dock.

WBZ’s Chris Fama (@CFamaWBZ) reports

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A summertime tradition will return to Boston in June after years of dormancy: cannonballing into the Charles River.

Charles River groups and state officials will revive the Charles River Swimming Day on June 18, welcoming swimmers to take a recreational dip or compete with their peers along a waterway typically reserved for kayaks and sailboats. And for the first time ever, organizers will host both a one-mile race and a free swim near the Esplanade’s Fiedler Dock on the same day.

Organizers did not run the annual swimming day in 2018, canceled the 2019 iteration due to bad weather, and then put it on hiatus in 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic.

Now, with most Bay Staters now vaccinated against the virus and treatments widely available, the rare opportunity to take a sanctioned swim in the river will return.

“We’re so excited to bring these signature events back to the Charles River to celebrate river swimming and strengthen community connections to this important resource,” Charles River Conservancy Executive Director Laura Jasinski said in a statement. “We believe everyone should have access to the Charles to cool off on a hot summer day and we are working to make that a reality. We’ll also be highlighting other ways for community members to beat the heat safely in the summer until that day comes.”

The one-mile race, hosted by the Charles River Swimming Club, will kick off sometime in the early morning with a course looping between Harvard and Longfellow Bridge.

Only 200 slots will be available, and swimmers must be 18 or older and capable of completing one mile in 40 minutes or less. The Charles River Conservancy will then host the community swim running from midday to the late afternoon.

Swimmers, who can begin registering in May, will get 25-minute time slots to enjoy a section of the river near the state Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Fiedler Dock.

Organizers describe the newly returning annual event as “the only chance for Boston area residents to jump into the Charles River,” which historically was so polluted that it helped inspire The Standells’ 1965 hit “Dirty Water” but has improved somewhat in recent years. 

(Copyright (c) 2022 State House News Service.

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TRANSCRIPT: You know the Charles River is the lifebud of Boston, it long as been, so keeping it healthy is a priority. But so is dealing with climate change and how that impacts our health. We’re seeing an uptick in people who want to get involved and give back and that’s really encouraging and inspiring to call it a silver lining of a very dark cloud. But since the pandemic, people are gathering more outside and appreciating our waterways and green spaces. For the Charles River Conservancy, that is translated into their biggest Earth Day volunteer effort ever.

“We have 700 participants registered to help us out between and today and tomorrow to pick up track along the river.” The health of the Charles is dramatically better today than it was decades ago thanks to advocacy and investment, but there’s still more work to do. “We do still have issues of pollution going into the river, we have issues of trash going into the river, which is why we have so many people here today. We have new and evolving challenges with climate change.”

In Boston, climate change has meant rising water, but also hotter summers. The Earth Day focus in Chinatown was on heat resilience.

“This is one of the most impactful ways that we can make a difference right now for residents facing risks from climate change.” Mayor Wu says one of the hottest spots in the city every summer is Chinatown. She and her team announced some immediate and long-term steps to help city residents stay cool from pop-up cooling kits for summer events to heat resistant bus stops. “And we know that the heat impacts everyone, but it does not impact everyone equally.”

In the shadow of the Longfellow Bridge sits the lower basin of the Charles River — the most stagnant part of the river, which sees a steady stream of nutrient pollution from Route 28 runoff. It’s perhaps the dirtiest stretch of “that dirty water.”

But a few yards from the seawall a 700-square-foot floating oasis bobs on the water exploding with lush green plants and blooming native flowers.

A year after its creation, researchers from Northeastern University and the Charles River Conservancy said they are seeing impressive plant growth on the wetland, which was launched in June 2020. The floating wetland project aims to reduce harmful algal blooms in the Charles by creating a small habitat that will reduce nutrient pollution, enhance sedimentation, and strengthen missing a link of the river’s food chain by increasing the zooplankton population.

The researchers envision people eventually jumping off the docks of the Esplanade and splashing around in the river. The wetland, researchers said, will add momentum to conservation efforts by raising public awareness.

“That vision is what moves me and motivates me,” said Max Rome, a PhD candidate at Northeastern University and leader of wetland research for the conservancy.

Rome and his colleagues are still in the process of assessing exactly what their findings mean and whether the abundant plant growth is indicative of a healthier river.

But even if the research is inconclusive, Rome hopes the wetland will succeed in “shock[ing] people out of their complacency.” He wants people to see it and think ‘What if we could swim in the river…’ and wonder why the river isn’t more biodiverse.

Laura Jasinski, the conservancy’s executive director, said regardless of the experiment’s outcome, the wetland has been vital for raising public awareness and is helping battle the “dirty water stigma.”

The conservancy has engaged students at Cambridge Public Schools to conduct wetland experiments and been presentat events such as the Cambridge Arts Festival in an effort to bolster public education and interest in the river.

Jasinski hopes to expand the wetland project in the future once the researchers can identify where in the river the wetland will be most effective. She envisions a kayaking path that would navigate through different wetlands and offer a beautiful and peaceful respite from the noisy, busy city.

“We want people to engage with the river and build an emotional and recreational connection so they will think about how they can care for it,” said Jasinski. “Fun, memory-generating experiences with natural resources are helpful when you’re trying to change people’s behaviors.”

Notably, despite the extreme heat and heavy rainfall, there has not been an algal bloom yet this year, said Rome.

Algal blooms, which thrive in warm and polluted water, are the biggest obstacle when it comes to restoring open-water swimming, said Rome. The blooms can produce toxins that turn the water murky, are harmful to humans and wildlife and indicate that the ecology of the river is off balance.

Zooplankton eat algae, naturally preventing algal blooms and helping restore balance to the river. But because the river has a man-made seawall rather than a natural shoreline lush with plants, there are fewer places for zooplankton to hide from predators. The floating wetland will provide a habit for zooplankton to proliferate. Then, Rome said, they will eat the algae.

On Wednesday morning, Rome took a kayak and paddled out to the wetland to gather water samples containing zooplankton, which he does three times a week.

As there is “no going back to before humans intervened,” Rome said, the wetland could provide a semblance of ecological restoration. The river used to be surrounded by wetlands and was home to salmon and trout, he said.

“There’s no way to go all the way back, but we can create a biodiverse and ecologically rich habitat,” said Rome, who views biodiversity as innately good for the environment and those living in it.

As a kid, Rome said, he often playedalong the Charles. He remembers the awe and thrill of seeing dragonflies dart through the grass on the shore and watching alewife swimming below the water’s surface.

“I think it really enriches your life experience to have a river that’s not just nontoxic, but is actually filled with aquatic life and is rising and healthy,” said Rome.

Being in nature, he said, “is a very life-affirming part of living in a city.”

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Dozens of elementary-aged children, giggling and shouting, galloped and hopped across the Magazine Beach pedestrian bridge Saturday morning for the grand opening of the new Math Trail.

Designed by the Charles River Conservancy and tech company MathTalk, in partnership with community members and the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the installation’s goal is to improve math literacy for low-income students while increasing opportunities to learn in nature, according to Keith Griffin, the lead organizer for family and community engagement at MathTalk.

“Resources don’t always make it into these areas,” he said, “and we knew if we wanted change for our community, we’d have to put a footprint down and do it ourselves.”

And the dull concrete walkway of the pedestrian bridge was indeed brightened with footprints, along with multicolored numbers, geometric shapes, and animal tracks. Red, yellow, and blue lines measured the distance from place to place at 3-foot intervals, encouraging kids to look for patterns as they crossed the bridge.

Two-year-old Nirona Ashar jumped eagerly from line to line, passing numbers that counted higher and higher as the bridge curved into the sky. Her mother, Shana Ashar, said she was excited to have a place in the neighborhood where her daughter could come to play — and learn at the same time.

“She’s the perfect age for this, because it’s all about counting and measuring,” Ashar said.

The installation reminded her of the Harvard Bridge, once famously measured by MIT students using the fictional unit “smoots,” she said, but this one was custom made for children.

“It uses objects that little kids are familiar with, like paws or dinosaur feet,” she said.

Nirona’s grandmother, Mary Pepin, said it also offers fun for adults who can let their inner child out to play.

“It’s neat if you can think like a kid, too,” she said with a smile.

The installation is accompanied by its own app, Measure! Everything!, created by the MathTalk team to be adaptable to any environment, not just the park. Using augmented reality and the iPad‘s camera function, the app overlays images of animals and other objects onto the user’s surroundings, visible through the screen.

At the park, kids held their iPads out in front of them to measure the length of the bridge in wolves, or the height of a tree in anacondas.

Jasmine Lainez watched her three children as they zipped across the bridge and back into the park, leaping onto the tire swing with iPad in hand. Lainez said that she saw the event on Facebook the night before and that it piqued her interest enough to bring her kids across Cambridge via bus on a Saturday morning to the bridge.

Her two oldest children were into math, she said, but the youngest was a natural artist who often felt discouraged by math,telling her mother, “there are always problems I can’t solve.”

“She just needs a real-world application, because she does math all the time and doesn’t realize it,” said Lainez.

Sitting crisscross on the ground, Harmony quietly made herself a profile on the iPad and tapped “six” for her age before shyly angling the screen away as the first game started. Seconds later, however, the sight of a caterpillar prompted her to confidently rattle off a list of butterfly species.

“It could become a swallowtail, or a painted lady, or a monarch!” she said.

“Making math accessible for kids is important, so that kids who have a complex about it will see that they can do it, too,” she said.

Angeline UyHam, a designer with MathTalk and a design and innovation coach for the Cambridge school district, said the process of creating the Math Trail involved a student workshop, where students engaged in drawing, dreaming, and “a lot of dancing.”

“The kids get that math lives everywhere — in the geese, in the bridge, in the park, and in you,” UyHam said.

“What kids are craving is novelty and impact, and even thinking about outdoor spaces was meaningful and joyful at a time like this,” she said.

Come September, more activities will be offered for students along the trail, said Laura Jasinski, executive director of the Conservancy. Jasinski said she was hopeful that another installation would be developed soon at the Charles River Reservation, ideally with a bike route connecting the two.

“This is about extending the classroom across the street into the park,” she said. “Every time kids come, they’ll see something new they can engage with.”

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