Melbourne councils and water agency set 2050 goal for swimming in Yarra River
Four councils and Melbourne Water are pursuing a swimmable Yarra River by 2050, but the project has no cost estimate and parts of the waterway remain unsafe.
Four Melbourne councils and Melbourne Water have joined a push to make the Yarra River, also known as the Birrarung, swimmable by 2050, ABC News reported on 19 October 2026. The goal could reopen parts of Melbourne’s main waterway to swimmers, but its cost and the work required have yet to be settled.
The newly formed group plans to investigate how to restore the river before identifying designated swimming areas with public input, according to ABC News. The report did not name all four councils. City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece said the work would take at least 10 years and would require attention to water infrastructure and filtration systems.
Why swimming in the Yarra remains restricted
Melbourne Water chair Pat McCafferty identified animal faecal matter, litter and petrochemicals among the river’s contaminants. He told ABC News that its water quality was well below swimming safety levels, while describing improvement as achievable. Possible measures include treatment processes and wetlands that help clean the water.
At Kew, E. coli levels can reach about 25 times the safe swimming level, ABC News reported, citing Melbourne Water. The agency’s separate guidance describes readings along that stretch ranging from 74 to 6,500 organisms per 100 millilitres, against a swimming threshold of fewer than 260. The guidance does not establish when those readings were taken, so they are background rather than a current measurement of the new project’s starting point.
Swimming was restricted across much of the river from the 1960s as pollution and contamination increased. It remains illegal south of Gipps Street in Abbotsford, ABC News reported. Melbourne Water says some parts can be swimmable during dry weather and advises people to check the EPA’s Yarra Watch water-quality forecast before entering the water.
What the councils plan to examine
The project has not been costed, and the group has yet to determine which restoration measures to use. Reece pointed to infrastructure and filtration upgrades; McCafferty also raised treatment and wetlands. The proposed swimming zones would be chosen after restoration measures are in place, with residents invited to help identify locations, ABC News reported.
The river has a long history as a place for recreation, including use by First Nations people before colonisation. Industrialisation and population growth later degraded the waterway. Reece cited the restoration of Paris’s Seine, which reopened for public swimming in 2025, as an example of what a city can achieve through sustained cleanup.
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Sources and context
- Councils unite to make Yarra River swimmable by 2050ABC News
- How safe is the Yarra River for swimming?Melbourne Water
AI-assisted article checked against the listed sources. NewsJaws did not conduct interviews or attend the reported events.