new york city’s + POOL finishing constructing vessel's first version

New York City’s + POOL finishes constructing the barge

Friends of + POOL announces finishing the construction of the floating vessel that houses the pilot version of New York City’s first water-filtering swimming pool. This barge is only a rectangular ‘test’ version of the leisure part of the planned plus-shaped pool. The team has to build this first so they can put it through testing and have the Department of Health approve it before they can build out the full plus-shaped design. To open at Pier 35 near Manhattan’s Lower East Side around May 2026 for final testing, the group shares that they’ve completed building the barge at Bollinger Shipyard in Mississippi, which is the flat boat housing the pool itself and the filtration system that will clean the river water for safe public swimming without chlorine or chemicals.

It is a self-filtering structure too since the filtration system also discharges the clean water back into the river. The recently built specialized barge is custom-made to carry the amenities and structure of the first rectangular-shaped version of + POOL in New York City, which is 2,000 square feet in size. Before this, the group unveiled the idea of the project back in July 2010. Fast forward to June 2025: the next step is to load the barge onto a larger boat, the one used in cruises, to transport it from Mississippi, the construction place, to New York City. The trip takes about three weeks, as the barge goes through water routes, starting in Pascagoula, Mississippi, then through Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay, and finally up the Atlantic coast in the US. As soon as it arrives in New York City, the + POOL team gears up to finish it so the health agencies can approve the final design of the facility.

construction of the barge in Bollinger Shipyard | all images courtesy of Friends of + POOL

designing the deck below and above comes next

At the moment, the Friends of + POOL team is designing the deck below and above New York City’s first water-filtering swimming pool because before people can use it, health agencies still need to give final approval to the overall design. After that, the authorities also need to check the water filtration system to make sure it works properly on a full-size pool to confirm that the + POOL in New York City can safely clean the water from the East River. Then, the team also needs to complete the construction of the entire pool facility, including the walkways and safety equipment, to guarantee that it is safe and ready for the public to use.

For a timeline recap, New York Governor Kathy Hochul promised funding for the test version of the + POOL in New York City back in January 2024. The step is part of a larger project called NY SWIMS, which is the biggest public swimming investment in New York since the 1930s. In the summer of 2024, the group already tested their water cleaning system directly in the East River at Pier 35. They took the results from that test and gave them to New York City and its state agencies to show that the system works. For the summer of 2025, Friends of + POOL expect to continue weekly water quality testing at Pier 35, and they are working with the Interstate Environmental Commission to gather data so they can build a consistent record of the river’s water quality before + POOL opens to the public.

the barge houses the filtration system, which will clean the water, as well as the pool itself