Swimmer’s mission to keep world’s rivers clean comes to Albany

The Hudson River was once famous for being one of the dirtiest rivers in the world. Now it’s where an endurance swimmer, Lewis Pugh, is making a point that the continued effort to clean the world’s rivers is vital to our survival.

He’s swimming more than 300 miles down the Hudson to make his point.
Pugh stopped at the Albany Yacht Club on Tuesday – about halfway through his journey – which began two weeks ago.

Some of the swimming he’s already done is dangerous. However, the difficult part is what lies downstream, said Pugh, with more pollution, sewage, and exhaustion.

Pugh thinks all rivers should be drinkable, swimmable and fishable, he said.

Pugh is an ocean advocate for the United Nations. He has swam the length of the English Channel – and across the North Pole.

Learn about how his journey is going so far by watching the video of Stella Porter’s story.