Is the proposed Ark River swimming hole for real? It’s more about a ‘froggy leap.’
Included in the Riverfront Legacy Master Plan’s grand vision for downtown Wichita is an illustration showing a swimming area in the Arkansas River.
Smiling people float on inner tubes. Two men in swim trunks leap into the water. People sit at tables along a rectangular boardwalk. Someone reads a book with her feet in the river. On a nearby dock, two breakdancers twirl.
It’s an idyllic scene (and nostalgic, given the breakdancing) with one glaring problem: Our river isn’t fit for swimming.
The Arkansas River is contaminated with sediment, fertilizers and other pollutants, primarily due to stormwater runoff. The river generally is safe for some activities such as canoeing or kayaking — as long as it doesn’t rain. After a heavy rain, though, bacteria exceed levels considered safe for most activities.
And while fishing the Arkansas River in Wichita might be OK, state officials warn that you shouldn’t eat any fish you catch.
It didn’t take long for Wichitans — some might say Bitchitans — to criticize the swimming scene on social media, posting edited illustrations showing dark brown river water with errant e-scooters floating on top.
“They are encouraging people to swim in that? Seems dangerous,” one woman wrote on Facebook.
“Needs more trash,” wrote another.
So what’s the deal with that Ark River swimming hole?
Architects behind the vision say it’s meant to get people thinking, talking and dreaming — not reaching for their haz-mat swimsuits.
“Some of the things we know people want aren’t going to be addressed specifically in our plan,” said Amber Luther of Populous. “But . . . people want to use the river, and a cleanup of some kind is needed.”
Luther said the floating pool — envisioned to be separate from the river, though vulnerable to flooding — was inspired in part by sketches submitted by Wichita elementary school students. Kids proposed butterfly gardens, swimming pools and other amenities along the river, she said, so consultants offered the pool as a way to show activity on the water.
“It could be a lot of different things. A pool is one option,” Luther said. “The bigger part is getting people to think about how to use the river, this major asset . . . and challenging them to think outside of what they thought they might see.”
The plan could inspire leaders to think more broadly and clean up the waterway, she said. “Either way, it’s a win.”
It’s easy to pick apart details of the riverfront proposal, proponents say. (For instance, why is the sun setting in the north?) But that shouldn’t derail the larger vision.
“It’s been seven years,” Luther said. “People have been studying this thing, and at a certain point, somebody is going to have to take the froggy leap.”
A-ha! The froggy leap. So it turns out those guys in swim trunks are a metaphor — a computer-graphic version of Wichita’s willingness to take the plunge?
“Yeah, maybe,” Luther said, laughing. She’s also not opposed to more Riverfront Legacy-inspired memes.
“I have yet to see Loch Ness rising out of the groundwater.”
