With nearly 40 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and dozens of miles of urban riverway, Milwaukee is casting itself as the next Great Lakes city to turn its waterways into everyday public space.
On June 24, the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County Parks and local environmental organizations announced that Milwaukee has joined the Swimmable Cities coalition, a global movement that champions the right to swim in urban waterways. Launched in the lead‑up to the Paris 2024 Olympics – when swimmers returned to the River Seine for the first time in about a century – the coalition helps people safely enjoy urban waterways in more than 100 municipalities worldwide.
The idea is that if an urban river, harbor or canal is clean enough to swim in, it becomes a measure of how livable, equitable and ecologically healthy a city really is.
“While many people can head to the Northwoods or to a cottage on weekends, for many of us, our urban waters aren’t secondary. They are our only connection to water,” Milwaukee Riverkeeper Cheryl Nenn said in an emailed statement to the Journal Sentinel. “In order to be swimmable, our urban waters need to be clean, safe, and accessible.”
Milwaukee’s push to reclaim its rivers is part of a broader regional shift. It is the third Great Lakes city to officially join the Swimmable Cities coalition, following Sheboygan and Ottawa, Ontario, according to the coalition.
In May, the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a U.S.-Canada coalition of local governments, adopted a resolution to make communities across the Great Lakes more swimmable. The resolution treats urban swimming as a strategy for healthier cities, connects it with climate adaptation and centers partnerships with First Nations and tribes.
“Milwaukee County Parks is committed to expanding safe access to one of our region’s greatest natural resources,” Milwaukee County Parks Executive Director Guy Smith said in an emailed statement to the Journal Sentinel.
Smith said the move also underscores how projects like the reconstruction of Bay View’s South Shore Beach are helping bring people back to the water. This summer marks the first full season the new South Shore Beach will be open. The popular beach was frequently closed due to high levels of E. coli in the water. But after more than a decade of planning, design and reconstruction, the $8 million newly revitalized beach finally opened last September.
While Lake Michigan has long been Milwaukee’s main place to swim, the rivers have been too polluted for safe contact, in part because of contaminants like PCBs. Now, city officials have said they are working toward cleaning them up to one day host sanctioned swimming and other recreational events.
Hundreds of people took to the Chicago River for the first time in nearly a century during a swim event through downtown last summer. The event is scheduled to return on Sept. 20, 2026.
In Portland, there is now permanent public access at seven beaches and two docks on its Willamette River. New York City is going a different route, planning a floating pool in the East River near the Manhattan Bridge to make river swimming feel safer and more controlled.
Reclaiming urban rivers has economic, health benefits
Though the Swimmable Cities coalition is organized around swimming, improvements to clean water, safe access points and restored shorelines generally benefit everyone near the waterways. Clean, swimmable rivers tend to raise nearby property values, support recreation and tourism jobs, and save communities money on pollution‑related cleanup.
Regular contact with urban water – like rivers, lakes, canals and coastlines – is also linked to lower stress, better mental health and higher overall life satisfaction, sometimes even stronger than the benefits of green space.
Safe, accessible urban waterways are also an environmental justice issue. When only some neighborhoods have clean, usable rivers and lakes, the social, economic and health benefits of water only concentrate in those spaces, often deepening inequalities.
That’s why swimmers across the U.S. are reclaiming urban rivers and harbors, using organized open‑water events to pry open public access to city waterways.
Safety guidance for growing water use
With more people expected to use urban waterways, the U.S. Coast Guard Lake Michigan Sector pointed the Journal Sentinel to general safety considerations that come with increased recreational use.
The Coast Guard urges people to put safety first by wearing a life jacket, dressing for water and weather conditions, as well as sharing plans with someone on shore.
Crowded smaller waterways, especially ones being used by boaters, paddlers and swimmers, can heighten risks. The Coast Guard also encourages recreational users to take out what they bring in to keep waterways clean.
Caitlin Looby covers the Great Lakes and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact: clooby@gannett.com. Follow her on social media @caitlooby.
Caitlin is an Outrider Fellow whose reporting also receives support from the Brico Fund, Fund for Lake Michigan, Barbara K. Frank, and individual contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee embraces future in which urban waterways are swimmable
Reporting by Caitlin Looby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Caitlin Looby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
