A cross-shaped floating pool is finally making its way to one of New York City’s canals this summer, after more than ten years of ups and downs. However, according to plans, it won’t be accessible to the general public until 2025.
Once finished, the 9,000 square foot pool, designed by +POOL will purify hundreds of thousands of gallons of river water without using chemicals, making it safer for swimmers.
The announcement was made on Friday by Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul. The specific site of the test pool and filter system has yet to be determined, but it will be installed in a Big Apple canal to make sure it complies with local and state health regulations, they said.
“This was an invention that [makes it] possible to use our own waterways to find pools in communities that have historically been ignored,” Mayor Adams said at the Children’s Aid Dunlevy Milbank Community Center in Harlem.
The city is reportedly contributing $4 million to the endeavor, while the state has already committed $12 million.
The project began when the startup +POOL ran a Kickstarter campaign in 2013 with the goal of generating over $270,000. The campaign promised to engrave the names of contributors into the tiles that will make up the pool and its deck.
In 2021, local authorities tentatively approved the project in the East River in Manhattan’s Two Bridges district, between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge. However, the governor’s office states that the precise site of the test facility or the ultimate pool itself has to be decided.
The declaration on Friday was a part of a series of financial plans for lifeguard training, swimming instruction, and swimming facilities. Hochul promised to provide $60 million in state funds for grants to install floating pools in the state’s waterways.
