Grand River

[arcturus]

Is the river clean enough to swim?  Was there ever a beach on the banks nearby the metro area?

[GRDadof3]

Is the river clean enough to swim?  Was there ever a beach on the banks nearby the metro area?

 

Yes. Not that I know of. I wouldn't necessarily swim in the river after a giant rainstorm, particularly downstream of the water treatment plant.

 

We used to swim in the Grand River near Lansing when I was growing up, all the time. And we were downstream of downtown Lansing. We'd wear old tennis shoes in case we came in contact with a broken bottle thrown in by a drunk.

[Veloise]

:slipping into "Gadfly" neverending we-need-a-DT-information-center mode:

 

Last summer a FB user posted a question about swimming on GRPD's wall. Apparently it's a city ordinance: no swimming or wading. It's okay to fish, and wear hip-waders, but not if your intent is to cool off or paddle around. That was during the 100-degree weeks, and concurrent with the "restore the rapids" folks ramping things up. And it was just after a trip to the cherry festival in Traverse City, where I'd walked to their DT beach and cooled off in the bay, along with several thousand of my closest friends. Afterwards I walked DT and noticed many sellers of swimming things (suits, fins, masks, beachy stuff).

 

Along with adding a nice visual feature that could be used by kayakers, I think it would be good to include some beach-wading-swimming areas. (Yes, danger danger warning. The plans are to re-arrange the underwater ground, so why not include this?)

 

We now return you to your normal cyclo-centric Veloise.

[arcturus]

Pipe dream maybe but a beach at Riverside Park would be nice.  Throw in a water slide or two perhaps.  The city has already cut back on summer swimming pool use and with a river you have no need for chemical treatment, the chemicals are already in the water!  Putting aside debris, currents, liability, water testing, DNR approval and cost ....