N.Y. invests $16M to revolutionize state-wide swimming with floating pools

Governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul, has unveiled a $16 million initiative to transform New York State’s natural water bodies into accessible swimming havens, utilizing the innovative technology of + POOL.

The visionary project aims to introduce the first urban river-sourced swim facility in the country, marking a historic leap in public aquatic infrastructure.

The collaboration between the state and + POOL, a nonprofit organization, is set to kick off this summer with the installation of a 186-m² (2,000-sf) version of the plus-shaped, water-filtering pool in the city’s river system.

The + POOL design incorporates a cutting-edge filtration system capable of cleaning more than 3.78 million L (1 million gal) of water daily, without the use of chemicals or additives. This not only ensures safe public access to New York’s waters but it also aligns with the objectives of the Clean Water Act. The project aims to evaluate various sites across the state for the installation of similar pools.

+ POOL is reconfigurable for lap swimming, lounging, watersports, and children’s activities. Each configuration can be used independently, combined to form an Olympic-length pool or opened completely into an 835-m² (9,000-sf) pool for play.

Friends of + POOL, the nonprofit behind the initiative, has engineered a filtration system that brings raw river water to an acceptable microbiological standard for swimming and patented the design. The team has utilized the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) water quality modeling software, the Water Quality Analysis Simulation Program version 8.1 (WASP; US EPA, 2018a), to model the system and to ensure + POOL’s water quality without the use of chemical disinfectants.

The forthcoming public demonstration in the summer will provide essential data to New York State and Friends of + POOL with the final data needed to secure permits and greenlight the completion of the pool’s installation.