On Sunday, 11 May 2025, US presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stirred public confusion and criticism after sharing a photo of himself swimming in Rock Creek, a notoriously polluted stream in Washington, D.C. The image, which also showed several of his grandchildren wading in the water, quickly spread online—not because of the family outing itself, but because of where it took place.
Rock Creek is under long-standing no-swim advisories from the National Park Service due to unsafe levels of E. coli and faecal bacteria caused by sewage overflows. Yet here was the country's top health official—currently serving as Secretary of Health and Human Services—taking a dip with children in waters environmental agencies have warned against for decades.
