Futuristic floating Plus Pool will make LES splash in 2025

The Lower East Side is looking on the Plus side.

The long-promised “+ POOL” — a futuristic floating swimming pool designed to buoy bathers in the East River — will open off Pier 35 along the Lower East Side, Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul jointly announced Wednesday.

Swimmers will get a chance to swim in the X-shaped pool’s filtered East River water starting in Summer 2025, according to the announcement.

“By exploring the possibility of a + POOL, we are not only building on our historic investments in public pools across the city, but also expanding equitable access to swimming for all New Yorkers, especially our children,” said Mayor Adams.

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The idea for the + POOL, or Plus Pool, has been floating around since 2010.

Organizers noted that New Yorkers regularly swam in the East and Hudson rivers for hundreds of years until industrial pollution and shoreline development made taking a dip unhealthy and infeasible.

“+ POOL started as a simple idea for: instead of trying to clean the entire river, what if you could clean a small piece of it. And what if you could change how New Yorkers see their rivers, just by giving them a chance to swim in it?” the project’s official website states.

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The pool’s filtration system — which will be tested starting this month by the city and state — aims to scrub out germs so the water quality hits safe swimming standards, officials said.

Beyond that, water quality in the rivers surrounding New York City has been steadily improving in recent years, drawing swimmers with groups such as the NYC Triathlon and Urban Swim into the Hudson and East Rivers.

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The Plus Pool’s voyage to bring safe river swimming to the Big Apple hit choppy waters over the years, however, as projected start dates through the 2010s fell by the wayside.

The city approved the project in 2021, but it took until Hochul’s “State of the State” this year for a final push — $16 million in funding from the city and state as part of the governor’s wider effort to expand swimming access across the state.

Jose, a 42-year-old father of two who lives on the Lower East Side, told The Post Wednesday that he was skeptical about having a floating pool off Pier 35.

He said he would keep an eye on the pool before actually using it, but will not let his children near it.

“It would be dangerous to have people so close to the water since it has a pretty strong current,” he said. “If someone ends up getting in the water, it would be very difficult to save them.”

– Additional reporting by Caitlin McCormack

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