
Friends of + POOL has announced the next steps in the realization of New York City's first water-filtering floating swimming pool, to be installed at Pier 35, north of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. The project seeks to provide safe public access to swimming in the city's rivers by integrating a custom-designed filtration system into a floating pool structure. Installation at Pier 35 is scheduled for May 2026, when the pool will enter its final phase of evaluation. Public access will be contingent on the successful completion of large-scale filtration testing and the full build-out of the facility for safe public use.

In January 2024, Governor Kathy Hochul introduced new regulations and funding for a pilot + POOL as part of the NY SWIMS initiative, which marks the largest investment in public swimming infrastructure in the state since the WPA era. The + POOL is expected to become the first initiative permitted under these new regulations and serve as a model for future projects focused on safe swimming in urban waterways. Last summer, Friends of + POOL conducted successful testing of its water treatment system in the East River at Pier 35. The filtration system, developed in collaboration with global engineering consultancy Arup, continues to undergo weekly water quality testing this summer in partnership with the Interstate Environmental Commission to establish baseline criteria.

+ POOL remains committed to bringing river swimming back to NYC and advancing job creation through its annual operations. - Friends of + POOL Board Chair George Fontas
As part of the project's advancement, Friends of + POOL has completed construction of a custom barge at Bollinger Shipyard in Mississippi. Designed to house the filtration system, swimming pool, and deck-level amenities, the 2,000-square-foot rectangular barge represents a scaled version of the original plus-shaped concept. The vessel will be transported to New York in June on an ABS-certified barge, with the three-week journey covering multiple coastal waterways before arriving at a local shipyard for retrofitting. Final approval from health agencies is required before the pool is installed in the river.


While the completion date is anticipated as May 2026, new renderings of the pilot pool are expected to be released by the end of 2025, pending regulatory approvals. The + POOL initiative reflects a broader global interest in redefining the role of water and public space in urban environments. From Berlin's Badeschiff, a barge-turned-pool anchored in the Spree River, to the adaptive reuse of vacant structures like the MVRDV and Zecc Architecten-designed pool in a former church in the Netherlands, cities continue to explore innovative ways of making swimming more accessible.