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If it feels like you've been hearing about New York City's futuristic floating pool forever...you're not imagining it.
The long-promised +POOL project—the ambitious plan to create a floating public pool in the East River that filters river water instead of relying on typical pool systems—has hit yet another delay. After more than 15 years of planning, fundraising, testing and redesigns, the project's long-awaited prototype will no longer launch this summer. Instead, New Yorkers will have to wait until at least 2027.
This time, the holdup isn't seaweed or bureaucracy. According to the nonprofit behind the project, the prototype's testing site is now occupied by the city's accelerating East Side Coastal Resiliency work, the massive flood-protection project designed to safeguard Lower Manhattan from future storm surges. The city has recently ramped up construction on those climate resilience efforts, leaving no room for the floating test pool until the work progresses. The delay comes as New York expands its investment in coastal resilience infrastructure, including dozens of new staff positions dedicated to flood protection projects across the city's waterfront.
"Our primary responsibility, as stewards of such a large-scale, publicly funded project, is to pivot when necessary to support the needs of our city and state partners, investors and the people of New York," said Kara Meyer, managing director of Friends of +POOL, in a statement. "While this shift comes at a cost to the organization and the project, those realities will feel insignificant when we are living in a New York City that has advanced infrastructure to protect from storm surges while opening up safe public river access for healthful recreation."
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The latest postponement is just the newest chapter in one of New York's longest-running civic passion projects. First unveiled in 2010, +POOL’s initial renderings of a giant plus-sign-shaped pool floating in the East River captured imaginations. The concept became an internet favorite, raised money through Kickstarter and eventually secured $16 million in state and city funding in 2024 after Governor Kathy Hochul and then-Mayor Eric Adams backed the project.
Getting from rendering to reality, however, has proved considerably more complicated.
Over the past few years, the team has battled everything from seaweed clogging the filtration system to winter ice, shifting construction schedules and extensive health department reviews. Officials have also required additional testing because the proposed site sits near combined sewer overflow outlets, raising questions about water quality and swimmer safety after heavy rainstorms.
There is, at least, some encouraging news. Organizers say the prototype is essentially complete and currently sits at the Erie Basin Bargeport in Red Hook, awaiting its eventual tow to the Lower East Side. They've also secured the city, state and federal approvals needed for the testing phase once the site becomes available.
While New Yorkers still can't cannonball into a filtered East River just yet, the project isn't dead—it's simply following a timeline that has become almost as famous as the pool itself.