Berliners take plunge into cleaning city’s smelliest canal

AN AMBITIOUS project is under way to transform a polluted canal in central Berlin into an urban swimming area.

The Spree Canal is an unloved and murky stretch of water that winds its way around the back of the city’s famous Museum Island, away from the cathedral and the views captured in millions of tourists’ selfies.

It is closed to shipping and known locally as the “Kot d’azur” – a play on the German word for excrement – because sewers overflow into the canal after periods of heavy rain, leaving it polluted and stinking. This is a far cry from the 19th century, when Berlin was famous for the swimming spots dotted along the Spree river and its many canals.

However, Flussbad Berlin, a team of engineers, scientists and activists led by two brothers, believes it can bring those days back. It wants to transform the Spree Canal into a clean and safe swimming area, using natural reed beds as a filtration system.

“It’s a lifestyle expression for an active and environmentally conscious urban society,” Tim Edler, an architect and one of the brothers behind the scheme told Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. In eight to 10 years, he says, the first swimmers will be able to dive in.

When Mr Edler and his brother Jan came up with the idea in the Nineties, they were dismissed as crazy. One critic said the project was “so unrealistic we don’t even need to talk about it”. But the brothers did not give up, and they have secured €4million (£3.5million) from the German government and Berlin city authorities.

The project is still at the testing stage, but when it is completed, a 900 yard-long swimming area is planned, framed by the grand architecture of the city’s museums and the newly recon- structed City Palace.

“The Spree is actually clean enough to swim in for most of the year, but there are overflow events from the sewer system,” Kai Dolata, from the project, told local RBB radio.

To prove any doubters wrong, more than 100 swimmers recently turned up for a race in the canal to promote the project.