by Shane Sody
Seven years ago, back in 2018, one hopeful Adelaide man planned a far-sighted challenge.
Business consultant Sam Taylor forecast that one day - in fact on one SPECIFIC day, seven years in the future, people would be swimming in the River Torrens / Karrawirra Pari, in the heart of your Adelaide Park Lands.
His goal was not just to have one brave person swimming. On a Facebook “event” page he set up in 2018, Sam called for a thousand people to swim together in the Torrens Lake on 1 November 2025.
“For years, Karra Wirra-Parri [the Torrens] has been too polluted to swim in” Sam wrote in 2018.
“We're collectively saying enough is enough! Let's fix it up! We're putting this pledge to swim in place to give ourselves an incentive and to regain ownership over the problem.”
Sam Taylor
Fast forward to 2025 and the date is no longer distant. Will the river be safe for swimming by 1 November?
The River has been closed for boating and fishing at least twice in the past 12 months, but Sam Taylor has not given up on his dream of getting the River clean enough for swimming.
He’s invited all of the 19 candidates in the City Council’s Central Ward supplementary election to a forum on Monday 4 August.
Sam’s forum on 4 August is to be a virtual meeting, live on-line, from 6.30pm to 8pm at this link: https://meet.google.com/efu-jire-mty
Sam Taylor advises:
“You can RSVP at this event link so that it's in your calendar, but no need to respond otherwise - just rock up! I'm very pleased that most of the Central Ward candidates are supportive and hopefully will be able to attend. All are welcome, even if you do not live in the city or registered to vote in Adelaide's Central Ward.
“We have some pre-prepared themes, and will open up to questions from attendees so that we can hear from candidates how they would drive action on this issue.”
Not just an enclosed pool
Image: Business SA (2021)
Four years ago, Sam Taylor was sceptical about a proposal by Business SA to set up a natural swimming pool in the Torrens Lake. At the time, he feared that the proposal to filter the water in a concrete pool on the river’s edge might deflect from the long-term goal of cleaning up the river.
