Information on Where to Swim in the Hudson River Now at the Touch of a Fingertip
July 26, 2012
Riverkeeper Team
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Riverkeeper partners with Waterkeeper Alliance to expand Swim Guide smart phone application
Ossining, NY – July 26, 2012 – Riverkeeper announced today that it has partnered with Waterkeeper Alliance to expand the Swim Guide application for smart phones to include information about beaches, access points and water quality for the Hudson River. The application also now includes swimming areas for New York’s Long Island Sound and Atlantic coast, as well as Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the Chesapeake Region.
In the summer, the Hudson River Estuary serves as a 155-mile long beach for countless New Yorkers. The public is getting in and enjoying the water at official and unofficial swimming spots from Albany to New York City. With Riverkeeper’s water quality data the Swim Guide now offers easy mobile access to popular swimming locations in the Hudson.
“The Swim Guide is a fun, user-friendly way to share the information Riverkeeper has on the many wonderful places to get in and enjoy the Hudson,” said Tracy Brown, Riverkeeper’s Water Quality Advocate. “We hope the guide will bring new visitors to our shores and deliver valuable water quality information to the people already swimming, boating and fishing in the Hudson.”
In addition to increased recreational swimming, the Hudson is becoming a popular location for open swim events such as the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim and the NYC Hudson River Swim.
“Having such direct and immediate access to Riverkeeper’s Hudson River water quality data is an exciting new development,” said Rondi Davies, 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim co-director and participant. “It will be greatly helpful in planning swimming locations for the 8 Bridges, 120 mile swim down the Hudson, and other swim events we hold throughout the summer. This will inform us about areas that may be problematic and empower us with the ability to safely avoid them. The app will be a great help to all the open water swimmers in the Hudson.”
Provided and managed by member groups within the Waterkeeper Alliance, the Swim Guide helps the user locate the closest, cleanest beach, get directions, view photos, and determine if the water is safe for swimming. The Swim Guide also allows the user to share the whole adventure with friends and family via social networks.
About Swim Guide
The innovative app originates with a team from the Lake Ontario Waterkeeper chapter, which set out to determine if it was safe to swim in Lake Ontario. Seven years later, with input from more than 100 different beach monitoring sources covering over 1,300 beaches across Canada and the US, people can now check the status and cleanliness of their local beaches from their phone.
The Swim Guide smart phone app is available at App Store, Google Play, or www.theswimguide.org.
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