The project has been in the works for years, but this week the creators have finally received an official “confirmation to proceed with due diligence” from the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), they announced on their Instagram page. This is after two years of review with the city organization!
+POOL — taking its name from the proposed shape, which will offer four different pools for “kids, lap swimmers, loungers, and splashers” — is a floating pool that will contain over 600,000 gallons of fresh, clean, water filtered directly from the East River. You can see more details and plans on their very thorough website here, but the pool will filter river water right through its very walls (acting almost like a “strainer” dropped in the river) to leave only safe, swimmable water in the pool (that meets local and state standards, of course).
They hope to allow New Yorkers to “swim” in the East River again like decades past, without having to wait until the entire body of water is decontaminated. It hopes to “reclaim the river as a recreational resource for the city, while educating the public about issues affecting our water quality.”
Though there are still many next steps to address — the complicated engineering of the filtration systems, regulations around building within the river, and funding (total cost is $20-25 million) — this is one of the biggest updates in a while, and the renderings are quite incredible!
featured image source: @luxigon_la via @poolplusny