Decades after last whistle calls kids out of water, river advocacy groups start search for places to swim in Charles River

For Immediate Release

July 13, 2005...Cambridge, MA...Seeking to highlight their call for renewed use of the Charles River Parklands and the river they surround as a place for recreational swimming, the Charles River Conservancy will host members of the state legislature and public officials at a special event on Sunday July 17 at noon.

After boarding at the dock where Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital conducts water rehabilitation programs, Boston Duck Tours will carry invited guests to view places where river swimming took place in the past and might begin again. July 17 marks the occasion when hundreds of cities all over Europe will celebrate their rivers as places for recreational swimming.

The event is also hosted by the Charles River Watershed Association, which has worked for 40 years to improve the water quality of the river. John deVillars, who in 1995, was head of the New England Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will also serve as a host. During his tenure as head of the New England region of the federal EPA, DeVillars set the goal of a swimmable Charles by 2005.

In May of 2005, the EPA released data that found the Charles River east of the Mass Avenue Bridge to be swimmable throughout the summer of 2004.

As has been extensively documented in the book Inventing the Charles River by Karl Haglund, published jointly by the MIT Press and the Charles River Conservancy, recreational swimming and sanitary bathing were commonplace along the Charles in an earlier era. Millions came to the river annually for reasons of pleasure and exercise or personal cleanliness. Research was not available until the 1950s to warn swimmers of the health risks of swimming in then contaminated water.

Most of the public pools built by the old MDC along the Charles are now closed or have limited opening days.

"It's been fifty years since the last whistle blew and the kids were called out of the water at Magazine Beach," said Renata von Tscharner, president of the Charles River Conservancy. "It's time to take advantage of recent progress and create new ways to get access to this wonderful recreational opportunity," she added.

While Charles River water itself is now clean enough for swimming, ways are needed to accommodate swimming that ensure swimmers will not come in contact with contaminated sediments found on the river bottom. "Boston has the scientific and technical resources to find a solution to this problem so that everyone can enjoy the pleasure of river swimming," said von Tscharner.

Participants in the event include Representative Alice Wolf of Cambridge who filed legislation to establish a commission to study sediments and swimming in the Charles River.

Paul Parravano, co-director of MIT's government affairs office will also participate. Parravano advocates for MIT freshmen to take their swimming tests in the river. Also present will be Swiss Consul Christoph von Arb who sees swimming as part of an urban amenity already offered by most Swiss cities that could serve as a model for the Charles.

Chris Swain, who swam the entire length of the Charles in the fall of 2004 and has received national coverage for his advocacy for clean rivers, will return to Boston for the event.

Refreshments will be served to all participants and media, followed by a Duck Tour of past and proposed swimming sites in the Charles River Parklands. Media wishing to join the Duck Tour portion of the day's activities must reserve prior to July 14 due to limited seating.

The Charles River Conservancy is a citizen advocacy group dedicated to making the Charles River Parklands more active and attractive. Founded in 2000, the group recently celebrated its 5th anniversary when author and presidential advisor David Gergen addressed over 250 Conservancy supporters and friends at the State Room in downtown Boston on June 17th.

The "Conservancy Volunteers" program engages activists from business and not-for-profit groups in cleaning and maintaining the Charles River Parklands. Recently, for instance, over 500 associates of EF International volunteered in the Parklands under the direction of the Conservancy. To date upwards of 5000 have worked in the Parklands as Conservancy Volunteers.

The Conservancy has over 700 active members and is engaged in a campaign to build a world-class skatepark under the Zakim-Bunker Hill Bridge in the NorthPoint area of the Parklands. To date the Conservancy has raised over $700,000 in private and public funds of the estimated $2 million needed to complete the project. In association with The Revels, the Conservancy also sponsors "RiverSing," scheduled for September 22, this fall.

For general information on the Charles River Conservancy, please point your Web browser at www.thecharles.org. For more event information, call Kristin Parkinson at the Charles River Conservancy at 617-619-2850, or email klp@thecharles.org.

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