Located in West Potomac Park, the Tidal Basin is well known for the famous Washington Cherry Blossom Festival that takes place each spring. Take a paddleboat out for a great view of the Washington monument, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The Tidal Basin loop trail circles around the water and is a great way to see both nature and culture.

**WARNING: SWIMMING IS PROHIBITED IN D.C. WATERS REGARDLESS OF THE CURRENT STATUS**

Despite its designation as a Class A Primary Contact waterway, the DC Department of Health (DOH) bans swimming in the Potomac River citing the risk of high bacteria levels after rainstorms as the only reason it is considered “unsafe” to swim. The activation of the Clean Rivers Project in DC is expected to reduce system wide combined sewage overflow by 96%, bringing the Potomac significantly closer to a swimmable river.

Water quality standards as well as the methods used to determine pass or fail status vary widely across jurisdictions and monitoring programs. We encourage users to explore the sample data in addition to checking the swim guide status. These data can be viewed through the Chesapeake Monitoring Collaborative Data Explorer, https://cmc.vims.edu/#/home

The description above was copied from or heavily based on Swim Guide, with permission.

More Information

• Swim Guide - Weather and water quality for Potomac River - Tidal Basin and 8,000 other beaches.