Three proposals went to answer the call from the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s BetaBurgh RFP.
One of the plans, called, Rauterkus.com, aims to begin the process of conducting a feasibility study in 2016 for the building of one or more floating swim pools on one or more barges. It might be possible to get the project to a crowd-source stage (i.e., Kickstarter or Indiegogo).
Two other plans are in the works too:
- Swim.CLOH.org is for open water swimming.

- 4RS.org is for building two in-river lagoons for holding water games, both SKWIM and Water Polo with floating goals and simple lane line dividers for the game areas.
All three will have the BGC (Bloomfield-Garfield.org) as the financial 501(c)(3) for the grant period.
Links:
Surf around this directory to see the text, budgets and art for the proposals: http://swim.cloh.org/betaburgh/
- Open water swimming, Swim.CLOH.org  http://swim.cloh.org/betaburgh/Swim_CLOH_org_text.html
- River lagoons, 4RS.org  http://swim.cloh.org/betaburgh/4RS_org_text.html
- Floating pools feasibility, Rauterkus.com http://swim.cloh.org/betaburgh/Rauterkus_com_text.html


Swimming in the Badeschiff pool
The Badeschiff is ideally suited for a refreshing dip in cool waters on a warm summer’s day. The combination of outdoor pool and beach bar draws many sun-seekers to relax on the banks of the River Spree.
The sky-blue swimming pool with fresh water is a converted 30 metre barge with a water depth of 2.05 metres under the watchful eye of a lifeguard. For children, there is an additional area where they build sandcastles and play in the splash pool.