Swim the Charles? A Community Group Wants to Make it Possible - Permanently.

Love that dirty water? How about swimming in it - any time?

The Charles River Conservancy puts on the annual City Splash, a popular community river swim, currently in its fourth year. It now wants to make that a regular option.

The Conservancy on Tuesday unveiled a feasibility study for a permanent swimming facility in the Charles at North Point Park. Stantec Engineering volunteered a team to pull the study together. Its conclusion: with further study and necessary diligence, a permanent swimming area is a real possibility.

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According to that study, the Conservancy is proposing a floating dock (see top image, courtesy Charles River Conservancy) with space for plants to grow on the dock itself, a lifeguard tower, a gated entrance and areas of both shallow and deep water.

It would potentially be placed in the stretch of river between the Zakim Bridge and Museum of Science - already a popular haunt for kayakers and other river paddlers.

To fund continued study, including water and sediment testing, the Conservancy launched an Indiegogo Campaign Tuesday to raise the $25,000 it estimates will be needed. Within three hours, according to the Conservancy, that fund has already surpassed $2,000.

The Boston Globe, which first reported this story, addresses the obvious question: "dirty water."

Stormwater runoff can cause E. Coli contamination and cyanobacteria in the river, and addressing that represents one of several "significant obstacles," Charles River Watershed Association executive director Bob Zimmerman told the paper.

The river's lower basin has greatly improved, and currently meets swimming standards roughly 65 percent of the time, he said. But that still means risking sickness some 30 to 40 percent of the time.

"We are working, and have been for some time, on these issues. We do believe there’s a point in the future that [swimming in the Charles] will happen, but the question is how far out that is," Zimmerman told the Globe.

"While the water itself is safe for swimming, the sediment at the bottom of the river may contain hazards. The design of a swimming facility must be safe, accessible, adaptable, and inviting; it should be a destination that encourages people to swim in the river. There are also requirements for legal permitting of the construction of a facility or use of floating equipment in the river," the Conservancy's study states.

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