article_snippet.sent: A clean-water advocate took an Earth Day swim in New York City's polluted Gowanus Canal, a site designated by the federal government as especially polluted, but quit less than halfway through.
article_snippet.sent: Christopher Swain wore a protective yellow suit as Christopher Swain went over a railing and into the water around 2pm Wednesday in Brooklyn but completed only two-thirds of a mile of Brooklyn waterway.
article_snippet.sent: Christopher Swain swam about an hour into the canal in  a stunt to urge environmental clean up that ultimately succumbed to the water's pollution because the experience was like 'swimming 'in a dirty diaper'.
article_snippet.sent: Christopher Swain, a clean-water activist, embarked on a 1.8-mile swim in the toxic Gowanus Canal, which has been designated as especially polluted by the Environmental Protection Agency, to urge the Environmental Protection Agency cleanup .
article_snippet.sent: It's probably the safest move at this point,' Swain said, according to Reuters, but pledged to swim the canal one day. '
article_snippet.sent: Swain said 'It's not safe to swim in there,' according to Gothamist.
article_snippet.sent: The federal Environmental Protection Agency warned Swain against taking the swim, posting a message on The federal Environmental Protection Agency Twitter account saying that The federal Environmental Protection Agency 'strongly advises AGAINST swimming' in the strip of water.
article_snippet.sent: The federal Environmental Protection Agency issued guidelines in 2011 saying that people should 'never swim in the canal', which runs over 1½ miles through a narrow industrial zone near increasingly wealthy neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
article_snippet.sent: The federal Environmental Protection Agency urged anyone who came in contact with the water to seek medical attention immediately if people should 'never swim in the canal', which runs over 1½ miles through a narrow industrial zone near increasingly wealthy neighborhoods in Brooklyn felt sick.
article_snippet.sent: The activist has previously swam the Hudson River in New York and the Columbia River in Washington to bring attention to water issues .
article_snippet.sent: However Swain, who has previously done long swims along the Hudson River in New York and the Columbia in Washington, wanted to call attention to the slow clean up of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn and urge for it to be accelerated.
article_snippet.sent: Swain posted on Twitter that swimming in the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn is Swain 'federal right' under the Clean Water Act of 1972.
article_snippet.sent: Before Wednesday's failed effort, Swain also planned on swimming other polluted waters, such as the Bronx River and Newtown Creek, which runs between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
article_snippet.sent: Swain said Swain has hope that New York's polluted waterways will one day be clean enough for swimmers without protective suits.
article_snippet.sent: Swain claims that Swain is Swain 'federal right' to swim in the canal under the Clean Water Act of 1972 .
highlights_snippet.sent: Christopher Swain donned protective suit to swim through Gowanus Canal .
  