Mike Hankin Dreamed Baltimore Could have a Swimmable Harbor. He Thinks it’s Close.

Not that long ago, the concept of swimming in Baltimore’s harbor seemed like a joke. Its waters were perennially plagued by discharges from the city’s sewage treatment plants and laden with historical pollution from the factories and industrial sites that once lined the waterfront.

Today, river otters and herons are returning to corners of the harbor, residents regularly kayak and sail, and — amazingly — people are beginning to swim. For the second year in a row, the group Waterfront Partnership plans to hold its Harbor Splash swimming event in Fells Point (An earlier swim date in June was postponed because of rain).

The organized swim is a milestone in the vision of Mike Hankin, a Baltimore County businessman and philanthropist who has championed a swimmable harbor for more than 15 years. The longtime board chair of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, Hankin launched the group’s Healthy Harbor Initiative in 2010 with a mission to make the water body swimmable within the decade.

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Source: The Baltimore Banner