How UIC’s water testing made Chicago history possible
Part 1
Full story originally published in UIC Today.
After nearly a century, an epic tradition returned to Chicago on Sept. 21. And UIC assistant professor Abhilasha Shrestha and her students helped make it possible.
The day before the event, Shrestha and School of Public Health graduate students William Kane and Joy Westercamp did one final check of the water quality in the Chicago River, this after a summer of testing water at city beaches. Once they gave the green light for the river’s water quality, the Chicago River Swim was a go.
With the wait for the first open-swim event in the Chicago River at 98 years, organizers really wanted to get the water-testing part right. After nearly three weeks of research-based testing to look for signs of excremental pollution and to ensure conditions were suitable for swimming, more than 250 athletes did what was previously unthinkable — swam in the Chicago River.
Swimming events in the Chicago River were common in the early part of the 20th century, until water quality deteriorated so much from industrial pollution and sewage that they were no longer possible. Organizers tried to get the event restarted last year, but the city denied their permit request over safety concerns, so it was moved to Lake Michigan.
Part 2
Shrestha, a water-quality researcher and research assistant professor in the School of Public Health, directs Chicago’s beach water testing program, a 10-year collaboration between UIC and the Chicago Park District to test water quality and issue daily safety advisories to swimmers visiting the city’s public beaches. Every morning during the summer, undergraduate and graduate student researchers in the program, including Kane and Westercamp, collected and tested water samples from 18 local beaches and reported the results to the Chicago Park District.
So when the time came to give the Chicago River Swim another shot this year, organizers called on Shrestha.
“We were in the middle of our daily beach monitoring project when the organizers (A Long Swim) reached out in late June after a CBS news story on our partnership with the Chicago Park District aired,” Shrestha said.
The advanced testing they use looks for enterococci, a bacteria that can indicate excremental pollution. Starting 19 days before the swim event, the water-testing team took samples regularly at eight sites along the course. The final test, a day before the swim, cleared the way for the historic return.
“We were excited because this was such a transformative and special event in Chicago,” said Shrestha, who gave more than dozen media interviews about the event and helped UIC land in local, national and international news. “But our approach stayed the same — use science to inform decisions, build community trust and promote healthy living.”
Part 3
On the day of the river swim, Kane and Westercamp, along with Shrestha and other UIC faculty and staff, Mayor Brandon Johnson and thousands of onlookers, watched with pride as swimmers finished the course and climbed out of the river, making Chicago history.
It’s not lost on Kane and Westercamp that they are learning from the best.
“She’s an incredible scientist who puts students first,” Westercamp, a doctoral candidate who aims to be a professor, said of Shrestha. “Abhilasha’s helped me grow as a researcher, and that’s something important to students.”
Kane, who earned his bachelor’s degree at UIC, plans to enroll in UIC’s doctoral program in environmental engineering. He sees Abhilasha as a mentor and someone working in water he can emulate. He comes from a long line of plumbers, so water is the family business.
Shrestha’s own commitment to clean water can be traced back to her experience as a UIC student, when she worked with Samuel Dorevitch, UIC professor of environmental and occupational health sciences. After they published a study on the benefit of rapid DNA-based beach-water testing, the university’s water testing partnership with the Chicago Park District expanded.
“If I can have the same impact on my students that he had on me, I’d be thrilled,” Shrestha said. “Dr. Dorevitch is a big reason UIC is leader in testing public waterways.”