You’ve probably seen the headlines or the grainy old photos. Maybe you heard a snippet of a podcast where it came up as a "badge of honor." The image of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. swimming in sewage isn't just some urban legend or a weird internet meme. It’s a literal, messy part of environmental history.
He did it.
Back in the early days of his work with Riverkeeper and the Waterkeeper Alliance, RFK Jr. spent an incredible amount of time in water that most people wouldn’t even touch with a stick. We aren’t talking about a pristine lake or a chlorinated pool. We are talking about the Hudson River during an era when it was basically an open drain for New York’s industrial and human waste.
The Hudson River was a mess
To understand why anyone—let alone a Kennedy—would find themselves swimming in sewage, you have to look at the state of the Hudson in the 1960s and 70s. It was a disaster. General Electric was dumping PCBs. Cities were pipe-lining raw human waste directly into the current. The water changed colors based on whatever dye the automotive plants were using that day.
It stank.
Kennedy joined Riverkeeper in the mid-80s as part of his court-ordered community service. He stayed for decades. His job wasn't just sitting in a boardroom; it was investigative. That meant getting close to the source. Sometimes, that meant getting in. He’s often recounted stories of patrolling the river and encountering "plumes" of grey water—a polite term for untreated sewage—and having to navigate through it to document pipe leaks or illegal dumping.
Why would a lawyer get in the water?
Publicity is one reason. Evidence is another. In the world of environmental litigation, you can’t just say a river is dirty. You have to prove it. You need samples. You need photos.
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He once described the Hudson as a "toxic soup." When he talks about swimming in sewage, he’s usually referring to the times he had to dive or wade into contaminated areas to find the outfall pipes that companies were trying to hide. These weren't recreational swims. They were forensic missions.
It’s kind of wild to think about now. Today, parts of the Hudson are swimmable. People kayak there. There are triathlons. But in the 80s? If you fell in, you went straight to the doctor for a tetanus shot and a prayer.
The risk of bacterial infection
The health risks were massive. Raw sewage carries a cocktail of pathogens. We’re talking E. coli, Giardia, Cryptosporidium, and Hepatitis A.
When you’re swimming in sewage, you aren't just dealing with the "gross factor." You’re dealing with the very real possibility of long-term illness. Kennedy has often used these stories to highlight the "theft" of public resources. His argument has always been that if a corporation pollutes a river so badly that you can’t swim in it without getting sick, they are stealing that river from the public.
He’s a polarizing guy, especially lately. But his boots-on-the-ground (or trunks-in-the-water) history with the Hudson is a matter of public record. He wasn't just a figurehead; he was a guy who got covered in sludge to win a lawsuit.
The impact of the Clean Water Act
None of this would have changed without the 1972 Clean Water Act. It gave citizens the right to sue polluters. Kennedy used this law like a hammer. He helped file hundreds of lawsuits against municipalities and corporations.
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Most people don't realize how much the Hudson has improved. It’s still not perfect. During heavy rains, New York City’s combined sewer system still overflows. This is called a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO). When that happens, raw sewage still enters the river.
Even today, after a heavy storm, "swimming in sewage" is a reality for the Hudson—though on a much smaller scale than the 1970s.
Misconceptions about the "sewage swim"
Some people think this is a metaphor. It’s not. Others think it was a stunt. While some of it was certainly for the cameras to draw attention to the filth, a lot of it was just the reality of the work. If you are an environmental investigator in a pre-drone era, you have to go where the pipes are.
Honestly, it’s sort of a lost era of environmentalism. It was gritty. It was visceral. It wasn't about carbon credits or ESG scores. It was about "there is poop in the water, let’s go find who put it there and sue them."
The legal victories
The "sewage" era of his career led to some of the biggest environmental wins in New York history.
- The 1997 New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement.
- Forcing GE to dredge PCBs from the river.
- Shutting down illegal industrial discharge points.
He often talks about the Hudson as "the river that defines us." To him, the fact that he had to swim through filth was an indictment of the political system.
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What we can learn from this today
If you're looking at the history of RFK Jr. swimming in sewage, the takeaway isn't just about a guy in a wetsuit. It's about the standard of "fishable and swimmable" waters.
That was the original goal of the Clean Water Act. It sounds simple. It’s actually incredibly hard to achieve.
We take for granted that our rivers don't catch fire anymore. We forget that in living memory, the Hudson was a literal sewer. The fact that a high-profile lawyer had to physically enter that mess to get the world to care says a lot about how we treat our natural resources.
If you want to understand the current state of water quality in your area, you shouldn't just look at the blue lines on a map. You need to look at the CSO maps. Most major cities still have them. Whenever there's a big rain, the "swimming in sewage" problem returns, if only for a few hours.
Check your local "Waterkeeper" or "Riverkeeper" website. They usually have real-time bacteria testing. Don't go in the water after a heavy rainstorm in any major urban area. That’s the modern version of the lesson Kennedy learned decades ago.
Actionable steps for water safety
- Check the rain: Never swim in urban rivers or near outfall pipes for at least 48 hours after a heavy rainfall. This is when CSO events occur.
- Use the Swim Guide app: This is a tool managed by Waterkeeper groups that provides real-time data on beach and river safety.
- Look for the signs: If you see "No Swimming" signs near a pipe, believe them. It’s usually not about drowning; it’s about bacteria.
- Support infrastructure: The only way to stop sewage from entering rivers is through massive infrastructure investment in "gray" and "green" water management.
The story of RFK Jr. in the Hudson is a reminder that clean water isn't a gift. It's something that was fought for in courtrooms and, occasionally, in the middle of a literal pile of waste. It’s a messy history, but it’s the reason the river is as clean as it is today.