Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went for a swim in Rock Creek yesterday.
Mother’s Day hike in Dumbarton Oaks Park with Amaryllis, Bobby, Kick, and Jackson, and a swim with my grandchildren, Bobcat and Cassius in Rock Creek. pic.twitter.com/TXowaSMTFY
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 11, 2025
Health officials typically advise avoid swimming in that DC waterway, because sewage from the city’s aging system flows into it. The problem is particularly bad after rains, but even during dry spells, the bacteria count in Rock Creek is alarmingly high, Marchant Wentworth wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece in 2021:
[O]n July 14, 2015, the D.C. Department of Energy and the Environment found bacteria levels over 2,420 times the most probable number of colonies in 100 milliliters (MPN). This is far in excess of the Environmental Protection Agency standard of 410 MPN. On that same day, no rain was detected in any of three rain gauges around the city. Similarly, on Aug. 27, 2016, at the water sampling site maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey, the bacteria level was measured at an astoundingly dangerous 40,000 MPN. No rain was reported either that day or the day before.
The National Park Service warns plainly against taking a dip in the creek’s E. coli-ful waters: In addition to the damage you can do to banks, fauna, and flora, it says, “Swimming and wading are not allowed due to high bacteria levels.” When I interviewed Brian Joyner, the superintendent of Rock Creek Park, for a piece earlier this year, he mentioned that Teddy Roosevelt used to skinny-dip in the stream, but added “though I do not recommend going into the creek.”
Kennedy is well-known for his maverick approach to personal health. He revealed last year that doctors once found a dead worm in his brain.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
