A plan to install a pool that floats atop — and gets filled with — water from the East River will get tested off the shores of Brooklyn Bridge Park later this year in hopes to prove that the dream of swimming in clean harbor H2O can become a reality.
The small floating swimming pool that is likely coming in August to the sewage-drenched river would be a prelude to a much larger, sparkling clean,, Olympic-sized swimming pool in the shape of a plus sign — that won’t arrive until at least 2015.
“It’s a science lab version of the full one,” said Dong Ping Wong, one of the pool’s three designers. “It won’t be pretty, and it won’t have the public amenities of the full one. But it will float.”
The test pool is primarily for the designers to figure out if filtration systems can handle the muck they’ll suck in when taking salt water from the tidal strait that, surprisingly, sits just west of Brooklyn shores. Because of this, the pool will not be open to public swimmers, Wong said. But there may be select days where brave swimmers can sign a release form and jump into the pool, he said.
The designers are still scouting an exact location for the test pool. It should be about 20 to 30 feet away from the shore near Brooklyn Bridge Park — some place where the pool bottom won’t hit the riverbed.
To fund the test pool, the designers plan to unveil a Kickstarter campaign around June 4.
For $199, donors will be able to buy a tile with their name on it for the large pool.
In addition to providing a safe place to swim, one of the goals of the larger pool is to help clean up the East River by pumping filtered water back into the waterway that is famous changing direction up to four times a day, thanks to rising and lowering tides.
Reach reporter Jaime Lutz at jlutz@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8310. Follow her on Twitter @jaime_lutz.