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RFK Jr makes waves after posting photos of himself, his family swimming in sewage contaminated water

May 13, 2025 | | Print Article

A Mother’s Day moment shared with kids and grandkids found RFK Jr. and the MAHA movement neck deep in new criticism over wading in a questionable creek.

Ever the outdoorsman, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been known to post moments from nature during his lengthy career geared toward environmental protection. His views and actions have also stirred controversy, as he did Sunday when he was snapped splashing in a Washington, D.C.-area waterway said to have “high levels of bacteria and other infectious pathogens.”

Including four images of him with his family members as he himself enjoyed the water with his shirt off, Kennedy posted to X, “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.”

Not long after, a community note was attached to the post that asserted, “Swimming in Rock Creek is dangerous and prohibited by the National Park Service, as the creek contains dangerously high bacteria levels.”

Detailed on the NPS website, signs around the Rock Creek Conservancy inform the public to “Stay Dry, Stay Safe” before going into detail, “Stay safe while enjoying Rock Creek Park! Swimming and wading are not allowed due to high bacteria levels. Stay out of the water to protect streambanks, plants, and animals and keep you and your family (including pets!) safe from illness.”

“Rock Creek has high levels of bacteria and other infectious pathogens that make swimming, wading, and other contact with the water a hazard to human (and pet) health. … All District waterways are subject to a swim ban — this means wading, too!” warned the park service.

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A Dec. 2022 report from Washington, D.C.’s Department of Energy & Environment detailed the “chronic elevated levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli) contamination that exceeded D.C.’s surface water quality standards.”

“Surface waters that suffer high concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB), such as E. coli, may pose public health risks to recreational users,” it continued, and noted that the source is “not always evident” in urban areas. Theories outside of direct interaction from animals and humans with the water suggested overflow from sewers during storms, akin to the contamination that had delayed swimming competitions in the River Seine at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Considering some of the wild stories that the secretary has owned up to that included his leaving a bear carcass in New York City’s Central Park and having contracted a parasitic infection in his brain, it wasn’t long before critics were leveraging the images as cause to denounce Kennedy’s efforts to reset the industry practices to make America’s food and pharmaceuticals subject to standards aimed at actually keeping the public healthy.

Interspersed with those claiming he had taken his family for a “swim in sewage,” other reactions sought to challenge the narrative from corporate media outlets that neglected to question “why we should tolerate all our rivers and creeks being so dirty we can’t swim in them.”

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Kevin Haggerty
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