So, I jumped in the Chicago River. Considering the river was once the city’s bathroom, you might think me brave. Or stupid. But ever since exploring the waterway via hot tub, I’ve wondered, viscerally, what it would be like to wade in.
The second-annual Chicago River Swim was a fundraising effort for ALS research and swim education. On Friday, I took a small part in the festivities, jumping in alongside other passionate Chicagoans, some politicians, and former Bear Charles “Peanut” Tillman.
And I gotta say: Come on in, the water’s fine! Well, mostly.
The Big Jump
As a multitude of speakers assured us before the jump, the water quality had been tested repeatedly. That didn’t exactly assuage my nerves — “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” But I took a literal leap of faith.
Once I jumped in, I immediately forgot about the river’s nasty reputation. The water was perfectly warm. It smelled only slightly metallic. And I gotta say, floating on your back while staring up at Marina City towers is downright dreamy.
Sure, after the swim, I couldn’t stop thinking about the risk of fecal coliform. There’s a reason swimming in the Chicago River is technically prohibited. But ongoing efforts to clean the river show.
The water felt warmer than the lake has this whole summer. (Emmi Mack / City Cast Chicago)
The River’s PR Problem
When I told my friends I planned to jump in the river, they shuddered. Visibly shuddered. I couldn’t blame them. It was once the “Stinking River,” flowing (slow and brown) into Lake Michigan, sickening Chicagoans.
Famously, the flow was reversed in 1900. But that didn’t mean the water was suddenly clean. Treated as a dump for decades, river pollution remained bad until the 1970s. That’s when the Deep Tunnel Project began to prevent sewage runoff in the river and lake.
Fifty years later, the project is still underway, expected to complete in 2029. Who knows? By then we might be meeting each other for a dip in the Loop.
