The Flussbad-Pokal, a swimming competition in the Spree, had to be moved to August.
If you’ve always been scared of city rivers, you’ll feel vindicated in your trepidation by the following piece of news. The Flussbad trophy, planned for June 16th, had to be cancelled. Why? Due to the recent heavy storms, 45,000 cubic metres of raw sewage ran into the Kupfergraben, a central part of the Spree in Mitte. It’s precisely this kind of pollution the organisers of the competition, who are also behind the initiative for a public lido in the river, want to remove from the Spree with a natural filtering system. Considering the rise in extreme weather events, this project seems more important than ever.
The competition is now scheduled to be held on August 25th, providing the Spree is cleaner by then. As a consolation prize, the 650 would-be swimmers received free entry to nearby Bode Museum on Museum Island.
Translated by Aida Baghernejad
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