A German endurance swimmer and researcher kicked off his journey Thursday morning to swim the entire Tennessee River.
Dr. Andreas Fath started his swim at Ijams Nature Center near downtown Knoxville. He's swimming a distance of 652 miles to Paducah, Kentucky.
Fath plans to conduct daily analysis along his route to learn more about water quality and the river's health.
"I noticed that it’s a good combination to combine information with a swimming project like this like I made three years ago in Germany when I swam the Rhine," Fath said. "This attracts people and then I can take advantage of that and talk about the swim, but then talk about their impact to water quality, how people can behave at home to reduce their waste, because at the end of the day this waste will run in our rivers."
He said his impression of the Tennessee River so far is a good one, but ultimately, his analysis at the end of his journey will tell him more about the water quality.
"The first impression I have ... if you put your hands in front of your head to swim and you can see them, that's a good sign," he said.
Fath plans to finish his swimming journey in late August. He'll swim about eight hours every day.