RFK Jr., grandkids swim in contaminated DC creek despite advice to ‘stay out’
The nation’s top health advisor spent time with his grandchildren on Mother’s Day in a contaminated Maryland creek, according to photos shared on his social media. U.S. federal officials have warned against swimming in the waters for more than 50 years.
“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,” 26th United States secretary of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted on X on Sunday.
The creek in Dumbarton Oaks Park that runs through northwest Washington D.C. is a tributary of the Potomac River. It is used to drain the city’s excess rain and storm water and dumps into the Atlantic Ocean through the Chesapeake Bay.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE), Rock Creek contains widespread human and animal waste and consistently contains high levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli).
Swimming and wading have been banned in the creek since 1971, according to the DOEE.
