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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

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 a beach on one of the canals: https://www.visitgroningen.nl/nl/locaties/2159964091/stadsstrand https://www.visitgroningen.nl/nl/locaties/2159964091/stadsst... In Amsterdam, you have the Amsterdam city swim, a yearly event where participants swim through the canals.

tetris11 2y ago
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.
- hayd 2y ago
  Nonsense. What deregulation? You think rivers in the uk were pristine or even just cleaner 15 years ago? lol, they were not.
  - jodrellblank 2y ago
    Lol, they were. “In its evidence to the committee, the Environment Agency said that in 2021 the environmental performance of water companies was “at its lowest ever level” and the performance of most companies was declining.”” - https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/cleaning-up-failures-in-water-and-sewage-regulation-industry-and-regulators-committee-report/ https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/cleaning-up-failures-in-w... “Sewage spills in the UK hit a record high in 2023, amplifying public anger at the state of the country's dirty rivers and the private companies responsible for the pollution, such as the country's biggest supplier, Thames Water.” - https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/uk-aims-curb-water-pollution-with-tougher-penalties-stronger-regulation-2024-09-05/ https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/uk-aims-curb-wa...
    - jagged-chisel 2y ago
      That tells us nothing useful about the state of things 15+yrs ago. Only that 2023 was the worst. Could have been bad for 100yrs, just the worst in 2023.
      - Aeolun 2y ago
        I’m inclined to think the words would not be so scathing if we were talking about a 5% increase in pollution. Maybe I’m too optimistic?
        robertlagrant 2y ago
        Everything gets spun, but the simplest way I can understand this is that water shouldn't be getting dirtier in England. It should be cleaner. Of course the regulate-everything crowd will jump on this as delicious confirmation bias, but there are also plenty of sensible people who also think this is worth investigating and enforcing.
      - jodrellblank 2y ago
        It tells us enough to counter the low effort "even just cleaner 15 years ago? lol, they were not". If 2023 was the worst it had ever been, then they were cleaner at all points in the past. Q.E.D.
Aeolun 2y ago
I don’t think that as a child in the Netherlands I ever contemplated that water might be dangerous for any reason other than drowning. It’s bizarre to hear that it’s true in any first world nation.
- Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  Blue algae blooms will make you real sick though.
  - bb88 2y ago
    Yes, and we have blue algae alerts on ponds and lakes where I live. Kinda sucks when you go to a lake to swim for your family vacation and you can't because it's toxic.
- ghaff 2y ago
  Beaches in Massachusetts in the US were closed a number of times this summer because of algae blooms and other reasons.
Cthulhu_ 2y ago
They're dangerous because waste management (sewage, drainage, etc) was dependent on the waterways for hundreds of years; only with modern infrastructure, laws and regulations and good water management can you change it. And even then a lot of places also depend on what's happening upstream, e.g. the Rhine passes through various German industrial areas, the Nile passes through half a continent, etc. Besides that, it'll be weather dependent; if there's a dry spell and not enough water flow, toxic algae or bacteria build up.

tetris11 2y ago

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.

hayd 2y ago
Nonsense. What deregulation? You think rivers in the uk were pristine or even just cleaner 15 years ago? lol, they were not.
- jodrellblank 2y ago
  Lol, they were. “In its evidence to the committee, the Environment Agency said that in 2021 the environmental performance of water companies was “at its lowest ever level” and the performance of most companies was declining.”” - https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/cleaning-up-failures-in-water-and-sewage-regulation-industry-and-regulators-committee-report/ https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/cleaning-up-failures-in-w... “Sewage spills in the UK hit a record high in 2023, amplifying public anger at the state of the country's dirty rivers and the private companies responsible for the pollution, such as the country's biggest supplier, Thames Water.” - https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/uk-aims-curb-water-pollution-with-tougher-penalties-stronger-regulation-2024-09-05/ https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/uk-aims-curb-wa...
  - jagged-chisel 2y ago
    That tells us nothing useful about the state of things 15+yrs ago. Only that 2023 was the worst. Could have been bad for 100yrs, just the worst in 2023.
    - Aeolun 2y ago
      I’m inclined to think the words would not be so scathing if we were talking about a 5% increase in pollution. Maybe I’m too optimistic?
      - robertlagrant 2y ago
        Everything gets spun, but the simplest way I can understand this is that water shouldn't be getting dirtier in England. It should be cleaner. Of course the regulate-everything crowd will jump on this as delicious confirmation bias, but there are also plenty of sensible people who also think this is worth investigating and enforcing.
    - jodrellblank 2y ago
      It tells us enough to counter the low effort "even just cleaner 15 years ago? lol, they were not". If 2023 was the worst it had ever been, then they were cleaner at all points in the past. Q.E.D.

Aeolun 2y ago

I don’t think that as a child in the Netherlands I ever contemplated that water might be dangerous for any reason other than drowning. It’s bizarre to hear that it’s true in any first world nation.

Cthulhu_ 2y ago
Blue algae blooms will make you real sick though.
- bb88 2y ago
  Yes, and we have blue algae alerts on ponds and lakes where I live. Kinda sucks when you go to a lake to swim for your family vacation and you can't because it's toxic.
ghaff 2y ago
Beaches in Massachusetts in the US were closed a number of times this summer because of algae blooms and other reasons.

Cthulhu_ 2y ago

They're dangerous because waste management (sewage, drainage, etc) was dependent on the waterways for hundreds of years; only with modern infrastructure, laws and regulations and good water management can you change it. And even then a lot of places also depend on what's happening upstream, e.g. the Rhine passes through various German industrial areas, the Nile passes through half a continent, etc. Besides that, it'll be weather dependent; if there's a dry spell and not enough water flow, toxic algae or bacteria build up.