![A woman with brown skin and long hair locks holds a microphone. She wears over the ear headphones. We see her in profile, and next to her, also in profile, is a young man with brown skin and black hair wearing a black hoody. they both stand outside in the sun with blue sky, and river in the distnace, and a banner behind them that reads "Hudson River Swim 2023"](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_2832-768x1024.jpg)
On August 31st, Water Justice Lab hosted a joint event with Riverkeeper and the Lewis Pugh Foundation at Ingalls Avenue Boat Launch in North Troy, to mark Lewis Pugh’s halfway point in his #HudsonSwim2023 journey from the Adirondacks to New York City. Our Water Justice Lab media intern Aljahraun Wright interviewed Lewis Pugh about his experiences so far and about water advocacy in the Capital Region and beyond, then we took a water sample at the boat launch, for processing at NATURE lab! As we learned, Pugh has done most of his swims for water advocacy in oceans. He’s done four river swims, and acknowledged that rivers are more heavily polluted than oceans due to their proximity to urban areas, agriculture, and industry, and that the people he’s met in the communities along the Hudson are passionate about its protection and health. Listen to Aljahraun and Lewis’ interview here! The event was covered by other local news outlets, including the Troy Record and News Channel 13.
![Members of the Water Justice Lab team (5 people of varying ages and races, including L to R: volunteer & mentor Doug Reed, Community Science Educator Ellie Irons, NATURE Lab coordinator Kathy High, Media Mentor Alÿcia Bacon, and Media Intern Aljahraun Wright) pose with Lewis Pugh (far right) at the Ingalls Avenue Boat Launch, with a view of the Hudson River behind them. A banner in the background reads "Hudson Swim 2023".](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_2839-1024x768.jpg)
Above: Members of the Water Justice Lab team (including L to R: volunteer & mentor Doug Reed, Community Science Educator Ellie Irons, NATURE Lab coordinator Kathy High, Media Mentor Alÿcia Bacon, and Media Intern Aljahraun Wright) pose with Lewis Pugh (far right) at the Ingalls Avenue Boat Launch, with a view of the Hudson River behind them. A banner in the background reads “Hudson Swim 2023”.
![Aljahraun, a young man with brown skin, black hair, and glasses, wearing blue latex gloves, pours yellow-tinted water from a plastic bottle into a flat sleeve with wells of different sizes.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_2847-768x1024.jpg)
![Aljahraun, a young man with brown skin, black hair, and glasses, stoops to see the water level as he pours water from one container to another.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_2845-1024x768.jpg)
![Aljahraun, a young man with brown skin, black hair, and glasses, stands behind a table at NATURE Lab, putting on blue latex gloves as he prepares to run a water sample. The stainless steel table in front of him has two plastics bottles, a pen, and other testing supplied.](https://www.mediasanctuary.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG_2841-1024x768.jpg)
Above: Aljahraun processes the water sample taken at the boat launch during the Lewis Pugh event.