It is 32C in Basel. On the bridges, people are eating ice cream while below them swimmers drift downstream in the Rhine, sharing the river with freight vessels and pleasure boats.
"For many people who live and work here, the Rhine is an important part of their everyday lives," Conradin Cramer, president of the Basel cantonal government, told Swiss broadcaster SRF.
But travel a few hundred kilometres north along the same river to the German cities of Cologne and Düsseldorf and the situation is very different: swimming in the Rhine is banned, with anyone entering the water facing fines of up to €1,000.
Making a river safe for swimming
Tim Edler, co-founder of the Flussbad Berlin association, which campaigns to make Berlin's Spree safe for swimming, believes Basel shows what can be achieved when cities actively manage rivers for public use.
