In Switzerland, the concept of urban swimming has gained immense popularity. However, the idea of commuting home by floating down a river or spending weekends in the water wasn’t always commonplace.

According to the latest report on bathing water quality by the relevant agency, out of 160 tested sites in Switzerland, just one was deemed “poor.”

The primary concern centers around the health of rivers and waterways. To establish more ‘safe’ urban swimming spots, Morrison emphasized the necessity of meeting “strict microbial standards,” which include maintaining low E. coli bacteria levels and monitoring for “heavy metals, chemicals, and pathogens.”

Challenges notwithstanding, there are both global and local examples that could inspire the expansion of urban swimming access in Australia.

In New South Wales, the Beachwatch initiative offers insights into water pollution levels. However, in several Australian urban waterways, such as the Brisbane River and the Torrens, swimming is discouraged due to pollution and other environmental concerns.

NSW also has the Beachwatch program, which provides information about water pollution. But there are also several waterways in Australian cities — like the Brisbane River and the Torrens — where swimming isn’t advised, due to factors such as pollution.

The benefits of urban swimming

She told SBS Dateline that urban swimming can bring positive effects, including helping people build social relationships.

“One of the things I think that’s difficult for us all to get our head around is that rivers aren’t always going to be swimmable,” Olive said.

Swimming and safety

“They put a lot of investment into real-time public information.”

Switzerland’s model has seen consistent political, financial and community buy-in.

Creating a swimmable city

Amid a worsening climate crisis, addressing extreme urban heat is a political issue.

Since July this year, the Seine has been open to the public for swimming across multiple sites. It’s an infrastructure project that has been decades in the making.

The Seine River opened up three safe swimming spots in July. Source: EPA / Source: AAP / EPA / Teresa Suarez

“What we saw in Paris, the triumph of the Seine, is that there are huge underwater stormwater overspill vats that allow the bacteria to die in the water and the water to clean up before it’s released back into the river,” she said.

There also needs to be sustained “community interest”, as there was in the Swiss case.

The importance of swimmable cities in Australia

Across Australia, there are already examples of urban swimming spots, like Streets Beach on Brisbane’s South Bank.

Streets Beach is a man-made inner-city beach on Brisbane’s south bank. It’s next to the Brisbane River, but uses chlorinated water rather than river water. Credit: Source: AAP / Glenn Hunt

Both Streets Beach and the Seine have lifeguards, increasing their accessibility.

The NSW government recently announced the beach would reopen for the third year in a row. As well as a place to swim, the beach also offers water safety and swimming lessons.

Penrith Beach — also known as Pondi — provides people living in western Sydney with a more accessible place to swim than many of the city’s coastal beaches. Source: AAP / Source: AAP / Dan Himbrechts

Nicky Morrison was involved in the early stages of Penrith Beach’s development, providing supporting evidence for the Department of Planning and Environment’s places to swim grant program.

Projects like Penrith Beach help improve social equity, connectivity, “sense of belonging” and community pride, she said. It also provides an alternative for people in western Sydney so they don’t have to travel hours to the beach — an important consideration in Australia’s warming climate.