New York City Moves Closer to Getting a Swimming Pool on the East River

by Stephanie Colombini | 04/22/2014 | 4:22pm

New York City Moves Closer to Getting a Swimming Pool on the East River

Google is getting involved with a project to make swimming on Manhattan's notoriously polluted river a reality.

The so-called "+Pool" would filter river water into a clean, plus-sign shaped structure floating above the surface of Manhattan's East River.

Jeff Franklin co-founded the project in 2010.  He says the pool challenges the stigma that New York City's rivers are only for industry.

"It's going to get people back to the waterfront and into the water for the first time in a hundred years.  We can make it something that people can actually start to feel as another borough, as another part of their city; and not just this weird boundary," he said.

Franklin joined representatives from Google today to announce a new website for the project.  The educational tool will track the water quality of the city's rivers and determine when the Plus Pool's prototype system is stable enough to launch the real thing. 

Franklin says they hope to open the +Pool by 2016.

 

 

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