{"id":8911,"date":"2025-05-13T18:23:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T18:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=8911"},"modified":"2025-05-13T18:23:06","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T18:23:06","slug":"robert-f-kennedy-jr-submerges-in-creek-with-high-bacteria-levels-including-e-coli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=8911","title":{"rendered":"Robert F. Kennedy Jr. submerges in creek with high bacteria levels, including E. coli"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared photos of himself submerged in Washington, D.C.&#8217;s Rock Creek with his grandchildren, despite longstanding warnings that high bacterial levels make the Potomac River tributary unsafe.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Mother&#8217;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,&#8221; RFK Jr. wrote alongside four photos from the outing <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RobertKennedyJr\/status\/1921609958631575969\" target=\"_blank\">posted to X<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The photos show the 71-year-old member of President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration both sitting in the water and completely submerging in the shallow creek.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Longstanding warnings from the National Park Service (NPS), however, say to stay out of the water because of high bacteria levels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;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,&#8221; the federal agency warns on a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/rocr\/index.htm\" target=\"_blank\">webpage<\/a> for the park.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Staying out of the water also helps to protect the natural landscape from erosion and negative impacts to wildlife as well, according to the NPS.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Washington, D.C., has <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/doee.dc.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/dc\/sites\/doee\/service_content\/attachments\/DC%20Swim%20Ban%20web.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">banned swimming<\/a> in waterways for over 50 years because of the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/opendata.dc.gov\/datasets\/DCGIS::combined-sewer-outfall-sewer-shed\/about\" target=\"_blank\">widespread contamination<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">According to the <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/mywaterway.epa.gov\/waterbody-report\/DOEE\/DCRCR00R_02\/2024\" target=\"_blank\">Environmental Protection Agency<\/a>, Rock Creek has been found to have &#8220;fecal contamination&#8221; from sewage and high levels of bacteria, including E. coli.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Despite the federal warnings and signs in the area detailing the risks, people have been known to still swim or wade in the water.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">ABC News has reached out to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shared photos of himself submerged in Washington, D.C.&#8217;s Rock Creek with his grandchildren, despite longstanding warnings that high bacterial levels make the Potomac River tributary unsafe. &#8220;Mother&#8217;s Day hike in Dumbarton Oaks Park with Amaryllis, Bobby, Kick, and Jackson, and a swim with my grandchildren, Bobcat [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8913,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8911\/revisions\/8913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}