Bold plan to have Melbourne office workers swimming in the Yarra River within 10 years

Melbourne CBD office workers would be able to take a lunch-break dip in the Yarra River under a bold 10-year plan to create a world-class “swimmable urban corridor”.

Going for a swim in the Yarra River could be a reality within a decade under a bold strategy to improve Melbourne’s iconic waterway.

An alliance of about 50 organisations have been working for three years on the Swimmable Birrarung project.

The groups, co-ordinated by Regen Melbourne, are now developing a series of proposals to “accelerate the transformation of the river system’’.

Regen Melbourne chief executive Kaj Lofgren said it could happen and that other cities around the world had “swimmable urban corridors’’.

An AI generated image of what the Yarra River near Birrarung could look like. Picture: Regen Melbourne

“If you’ve been to any of those places and submersed yourself in the water in the middle of Copenhagen or Zurich or Oslo or parts of North America, it’s such an intuitive, obvious and fun thing to do,” Mr Lofgren said.

Swimming in the lower reaches of the Yarra occurred up until the 1980s, Mr Lofgren said.

“So it wasn’t so long ago that we could do that,” he said.

“There was a swimming race that was held right along the Yarra once a year.

“And obviously we can still swim at Deep Rock which is not so far beyond Dights Falls at Abbotsford. So the river is already swimmable.

“So we could swim in the river tomorrow, it just won’t be in that lower corridor which is what we are talking about with this project.

“So it’s not to create a swimmable river, it’s almost to extend the swimmability of the river.

“When will it happen? It’s a 10-year horizon because there is a groundswell of support.”

Mr Lofgren said about 70 per cent of the city’s water supply came from the Yarra system.

“So if it doesn’t survive and thrive then nor do we,” he said.

Revellers take a boat ride up the Yarra River. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

A co-ordinated strategy will have to address upstream pollution, such as litter, industrial waste, stormwater and agricultural run-off.

Two immediate projects include the staging of the Riverfest event again this year and a proposal for “live water quality dashboards” – a series of installations along the riverbank displaying live water quality to help raise public awareness about healthy waterways.

Regen Melbourne wants to make a swimmable urban Yarra River. Picture: Josie Hayden

“A regenerated Birrarung will provide endless systemic upsides like urban cooling, biodiversity gains, enhanced public physical and mental health, increased tourism and economic activity, water security, and cultural (re) connection and healing,’’ a report said.

The Regen idea follows previous plans for swimming pools on the Yarra riverbanks, often suggested near Enterprize Park.

Yarra Pools proposed a public pool and wetlands as part of the City of Melbourne’s Greenline project.

Floating wetlands have already been created at the nearby Turning Basin.

Swimmable Birrarung was described as one of Regen’s “wildly ambitious projects”.

Regen Melbourne, founded in 2020 by philanthropic contributions, was formed from an alliance of 180 organisations.

The group last year analysed Melbourne’s liveability and found that it came at a cost for some sections of the community.