Regeneration Projects advises of progress in making Melbourne's Yarra River swimmable

The ambitious goal to make Melbourne's lower Yarra River/Birrarung swimmable is making progress with the Walk Talk Swim Birrarung environmental education program being designed to empower the next generation of urban waterway swimmers and stewards.

As a City of Yarra Community Award winner (2024), Regeneration Projects, convenor of the international Swimmable Cities alliance and one of the key hubs in the swimmable Birrarung movement, is connecting local and global action for the initiative.

While acknowledging that the goal "can sound a bit crazy and feel a long way off" it advises that people can already swim at Deep Rock Historical Swimming Place as well as other locations upstream.

In addition, it is working with the Yarra City Council in the lead up to World Water Day on 22nd March to stage a series of short, guided river walks, connecting with community and storytelling.

With some aquatic events during the Paris Olympics taking place in the River Seine, Yarra City Council became a signatory to the international Swimmable Cities Charter.

At the time, City of Yarra Mayor, Edward Crossland, said a “healthy, swimmable, river will support our community’s connection to nature and provide opportunities for (people) to cool down in extreme heat”.

Mayor Crossland said restoring waterway health would also improve “biodiversity along the river, providing important habitat for wildlife and resilience against climate change”.

While people can currently legally swim in the river (except downstream from Abbotsford where it is a designated boating zone), the Victorian Environmental Protection Authority monitors its water quality and advises would-be bathers of the risks.

Dr Ian Wright, an Associate Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Western Sydney, told Guardian Australia that despite there being a “worldwide movement to clean up urban rivers and swim in them … Australia is late to the party”.

He attributed this partly to the popularity of Australia’s beaches.

Dr Wright said the Yarra had a problem with Escherichia coli, a bacteria which indicates the presence of faecal matter. In October 2022, one spot on the river - the Launching Place - recorded an E coli level of 6,500 organisms per 100ml, 25 times higher than the safe swimming limit of 260 organisms per 100ml. Warrandyte and Healesville recorded levels 20 times more than is safe, while Kew’s reading was 1,100.

However, these E coli levels were lower than levels reported in the Seine prior to the Olympics, with levels as high as 13,000 organisms per 100ml recorded at Bras De Grenelle.

Dr Wright noted that the high E coli levels in the Yarra and the Seine were due to sewerage leaks caused when rain “overloads the system” and sewer overflow escapes into the water.

Click here for more information on the Walk Talk Swim Birrarung events.

Walk Talk Swim Birrarung and Breda University
For the third year running, Regeneration Projects recently welcomed tourism students from Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands to connect with its work and share their insights on the future of tourism.

Regeneration Projects Directors Matt Sykes and Dr Loretta Bellato took the opportunity to test the Walk Talk Swim Birrarung program as part of contributions to the Swimmable Cities movement.

Image: Students from Breda University of Applied Sciences on the banks of the Yarra River/Birrarung.