On August 13 2023, British endurance swimmer and environmental activist Lewis Pugh began his 315-mile (507-km) swim down the Hudson River, from its source at Lake Tear of the Clouds, to its end at New York City. He finished the swim, ‘exhausted but rejuvenated’, on Wednesday, September 13, at Battery Park.  Pugh made the epic swim to raise awareness of water quality.

The 53-year-old endurance swimmer emerged from the water off the lower tip of Manhattan after a month-long journey, clad in a Speedo, cap and goggles. He smiled and raised his fist in triumph as he climbed out. Supporters who had gathered despite light rain cheered.

“Rivers are the arteries to our planet and if we are going to have a healthy planet we need to have healthy rivers,” he said.

“All I could think as I was swimming towards the Statue of Liberty is every single thing we hold dear to ourselves relies on us being able to drink clean water and breathe fresh air and take care of our planet so it’s habitable,” he added.

The BBC reports that Pugh timed his arrival in Manhattan, home of the United Nations Headquarters, to coincide with the countdown to the 2023 UN General Assembly and the United Nations’ ratification of the High Seas Treaty.

Pugh said he swam for the cause of “clean, fresh water and rivers”, adding: “It was an incredible challenge and today I’m feeling absolutely exhausted but I’m also feeling incredibly motivated.”

He said historically the Hudson was “so badly misused” that it was one of the world’s most polluted rivers but that a “mile by mile” mission to clean it up had yielded “amazing” results.
 
He said his swim would have been impossible 50 years ago as he would have “just got too sick”.

The latter half of Pugh’s swim was on the Hudson estuary, the section of river affected by the tides that stretches from New York Harbor to above Albany. He tried to swim with the tide, but he said wind and choppy water could make progress more difficult.

“Imagine driving down a dirt road which has been corrugated, and that that’s the feeling when you’re swimming into this chop for hour after hour after hour,” he said before swimming a recent leg.

Pugh is known for swimming across the North Pole in 2007 with the aim of highlighting the melting of the Arctic sea ice. In 2018 he swam the full length of the English Channel.

Patron of Oceans Lewis Pugh Completes Historic Hudson Swim to Champion River Health | United Nations