Swimmable Cities Summit 2026 - Basel, Switzerland
NOWCA’s Business Development Manager, Katie, joined the Swimmable Cities Summit in Basel, Switzerland, to collaborate with a global community united by a shared vision: creating cleaner, safer and more accessible urban waters for everyone.
What a truly swimmable city looks like
Last month, NOWCA joined practitioners, city officials, safety organisations and campaigners from across Europe and North America at the Swimmable Cities European Forum in Basel, Switzerland.
Across the two-day event, everyone was working towards the same ambition: creating more urban rivers, canals and lakes where people can swim safely and confidently.
For NOWCA, this is about much more than water quality. Cleaner water creates the possibility of swimming, but making it genuinely accessible requires clear information, thoughtful management, water safety education and systems that help people understand where, when and how they can enter the water safely.
A city built around its river
The evening before the main forum, we joined an open water swim in the Rhine. In Basel, river swimming is not reserved for organised events or special occasions; it is part of everyday life.
Swimmers enter the river with brightly coloured waterproof bags and allow the current to carry them downstream. As one local explained: in the Rhine, you do not really swim, you float.
Basel’s annual Rhine Swim brings around 5,000 people into the water, supported by lifeguards and clear safety arrangements. But the most striking thing is how normal swimming in the river feels. The water is not treated as something separate from the city; it is part of its public life.
That is what a truly swimmable city can look like: not simply clean water, but a culture and infrastructure that allow people to enjoy it with confidence.
Basel’s transformation did not happen by accident
Basel’s relationship with the Rhine is the result of decades of deliberate action.
The journey began with Switzerland’s first Water Protection Act in 1955 and gained greater urgency following a major chemical spill in 1986. The incident became a catalyst for long-term investment in water quality, environmental protection and public access.
Today, Basel has around three kilometres of dedicated swimming zones, an estimated 80–120 swimmable days each year and clear separation between swimmers and river traffic. Its community-led #RHYLAX campaign encourages people to enjoy the river responsibly through a culture of mutual respect.
The lesson is important: swimmable cities are not created through improvements in water quality alone. They require sustained cooperation between governments, communities, safety experts, water managers and the people who use the water.
Different cities, one shared direction
Every city represented at the forum was at a different stage of this journey.
Zurich already has 18 official bathing sites attracting nearly two million visits each year. It is now turning its attention to challenges including stormwater management and long-term water balance.
Paris progressed from its 2016 swimming plan, through the 2024 Olympic Games, to opening three sites on the Seine for public swimming. It demonstrates what can be achieved when political ambition, environmental investment and public access are brought together.
Mechelen in Belgium is developing its Masterplan Binnen Dijle, while Flanders is preparing for a significant legal change in June 2027: moving from a system in which swimming is prohibited unless expressly permitted to one in which it is allowed unless specifically prohibited.
These cities are taking different routes, but they are confronting the same question: once cleaner water becomes available, how do we enable people to use it safely and responsibly?
From clean water to safe access
One message emerged repeatedly across the forum’s grassroots discussions, city masterclasses and water safety workshops: people will enter open water whether or not swimming has been formally sanctioned.
A prohibition sign alone rarely removes the desire to swim. It can instead leave people entering the water without the information, education or support they need.
The more constructive response is to understand how people want to use these spaces and create proportionate ways for them to do so safely. Depending on the location, that could include managed swimming venues, designated bathing areas, lifeguarded sessions, water-quality information, safety signage, access guidance or support for informed independent swimming.
NOWCA’s experience shows that access and safety do not need to be competing priorities. With the right systems in place, they can strengthen one another.
Through the NOWCA Venue Network, we help operators create safer, more welcoming and better-managed open water experiences. We connect swimmers with recognised venues, support operators with safety systems and help more people participate in open water swimming with confidence.
NOWCA Wild extends this principle beyond formally managed venues. It has been created to help people find swim locations, understand local conditions and access information that can support better-informed decisions before entering the water.
Together, these approaches recognise that there is no single model for safe access. The future will include managed venues, designated urban swimming areas and independent swimming, connected by consistent information, education and safety principles.
How NOWCA can contribute
Turning cleaner water into genuinely swimmable water will require collaboration between cities, communities, water managers and open water specialists — and NOWCA has practical experience that can help support that work.
We can bring knowledge from the open water sector into conversations that have often been led primarily by environmental policy and urban planning. We understand the swimmer journey, the operational realities of opening water to the public and the systems needed to support safe participation at scale.
Working alongside local partners, NOWCA can help explore:
- how potential swimming locations are identified and communicated;
- how swimmers access timely and reliable information;
- how managed and independent swimming can coexist;
- how water competence and safety education can be strengthened;
- how participation data can inform future planning; and
- how access can be expanded while responding to local risks and responsibilities.
During our water safety workshop in Basel, two of the group’s leading recommendations were mandatory water competence education for children and better sharing of information about safer places to swim. Both closely align with work NOWCA is already developing.
The opportunity now is to connect this experience with a wider international movement and learn from cities, communities and organisations tackling the same challenge.
Turning possibility into participation
Basel has handed the baton to Ottawa and Gatineau, which will host the next Swimmable Cities Summit in August 2027 under the banner #Swim2Summit.
Between now and then, more cities will be considering how their rivers, canals and lakes can become part of public life again. Improving water quality will be fundamental, but it is only the beginning.
The next challenge is turning cleaner water into places where people can swim safely, confidently and responsibly.
NOWCA wants to contribute to that shared effort: connecting environmental progress with practical access, supporting those responsible for managing the water and helping swimmers access the information and education they need.
Because the future of swimmable cities is not simply about creating more water in which swimming is possible. It is about creating more places where more people can swim more safely.
More water. More people. More safely.
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