by Ron Bernthal
A bold plan to make Sydney Harbor swimmable has been unveiled by the City of Sydney with a series of pools slated for inner-city areas. Sydney Harbor could become a “swimmer’s paradise” under the new plan to build multiple pools along the city’s foreshore and improve the quality of the waterway. During a presentation of the plan, City of Sydney lord mayor Ms. Clover Moore said parts of Sydney harbor that are currently a little too polluted for swimmers could be transformed, with just minor infrastructure work, into a place where pollution levels could be managed, and beautiful swimming pools would be placed within the Harbor area.
In an October, 2021, speech that opened the first Sydney Water Innovation Festival, Mayor Moore said that her project to clean up the city’s harbor water, and create a more usable waterfront may be in its very stages, but that it was definitely “not just a pipedream.” She mentioned real estate sites at Pyrmont, Elizabeth Bay, Barangaroo, Rushcutters Bay and Glebe that were all determined to be potential locations for pools or actual harbor swimming areas. “The vision of wandering down to the harbor for a dip in Glebe, Pyrmont or Elizabeth Bay rests on improving water quality,” Moore said. “Some parts of our harbor are highly polluted and cleaning up these waterways so they can be used for recreation and to improve biodiversity will require co-operation across all levels of government. The city will continue to play its part to make this happen through our storm water management initiatives, and through our growing collaboration with Sydney Water.”
Below, a rendering of a proposed new harbor swimming area at Beare Park (image Andrew Burges Architects)
Above, rendering of a City of Sydney proposal for a new harbor-side pool on the Glebe foreshore. (Image Andrew Burges Architects)
Moore has written to the New South Wales state government asking for a all-government approach to cleaning up Sydney harbor. The city council has commissioned Andrew Burges Architects to investigate options for a swimmable harbor, and the project team has proposed waterside pools at locations including Pirrama Park at Pyrmont, Beare Park at Elizabeth Bay, Barangaroo, Rushcutters Bay and the foreshore at Glebe as potential
A proposal for a new harborside pool at Pirrama Park. (Image Andrew Burges Architects)
Some areas would require minimal changes to existing infrastructure, while the proposal for Glebe is to build multiple swimming pools on a man-made island, connected to the Glebe foreshore via a pedestrian bridge. Andrew Burges Architects has been engaged to scope out locations and designs for harbor swimming locations. The architectural firm has recently delivered their winning bid to design the Gunyama Park Aquatic and Recreation Centre at Zetland. The winning design for the Zetland pool was influenced by Sydney’s iconic beach pools from earlier years. Historically, there have always been rock pools and harbor baths near the city beaches, built for residents who were afraid of swimming in the ocean, as sharks were, and still are, somewhat of a threat to ocean swimmers. There are still over 40 rock pools and harbor baths adjacent to ocean beaches.
The closure of swimming pools and restrictions on travel during the coronavirus lockdown led to more people looking for swimming spots within Sydney Harbor. “The pandemic had made dreams of a swimmable harbor more alluring,” said Mayor Moore. “There is so much potential in having a swimmable harbor, from relatively simple swimming sites for local residemts, to the development of key harborside swimming attractions for tourists and Sydneysiders alike,”
“Swimming is the epitome of Australian culture, and Sydney Water is delighted to have City of Sydney and other agencies joining us to secure the best future for our iconic Sydney Harbour,” said Roch Cheroux, Sydney Water managing director.
