Zürich IT Worker Swims to Work While Cleaning City Canal

Every morning that weather allows, Mischa Gurov jumps into Zürich's Schanzengraben canal with a waterproof bag and swims the final stretch to his office. What started as an escape from packed trams has become a mission to protect a hidden world most people never see.

After moving to Zürich in 2019, the IT professional joined Switzerland's quirky tradition of swimming commuters. He travels by public transport to the city center, changes into swimwear, and completes his 1.35-kilometer journey through the old fortification moat. This year alone, he's logged more than 60 kilometers.

"Sometimes I see the sunrise at the lake before my swim or I observe swans taking their morning bath," Mischa says. "Other times, several fish swim with me for many meters. It is truly a special feeling of harmony."

His underwater camera revealed something remarkable. Beneath the bridges where thousands of people cross daily lives a surprisingly rich ecosystem: rare brown trout, schools of fish, and historic stone walls. Brown trout need pristine, oxygen-rich water to survive, proving the canal's quality.

But the discovery wasn't all positive. Mischa decided to count cigarette butts along a 30-meter stretch of the canal's edge. In just 30 minutes, he collected more than 500.

Switzerland discards six billion cigarette butts into the environment each year, costing an estimated €56 million in cleanup. The toxins they leak into water can kill fish. Now Mischa fishes trash from the canal whenever he can safely reach it.

The Ripple Effect

Mischa's efforts matter beyond his daily swim. Lake Zürich provides 70 percent of the city's drinking water, and thousands of residents cool off in official summer swimming spots each year. When summer drought caused algae blooms in the Schanzengraben, the city said too few people swim there to justify expensive cleanup.

Mischa wants to change that calculation. He believes stronger littering fines could discourage negligence and shift costs away from taxpayers. Current Swiss fines range from €85 to €266.

"Keeping Switzerland clean is a shared responsibility," he says. "Littering cannot be solved by cleaners, authorities or individual volunteers alone. It only works if all of us do our part."

On September 18, 2026, Mischa plans something bold for Switzerland's National Clean-Up Day. At 7am, he'll swim the entire length of the Schanzengraben wearing a helmet adorned with 1,000 discarded cigarette butts to raise awareness.

His underwater discoveries prove that nature isn't always somewhere far away: sometimes an entire world lives almost unnoticed beneath a bridge people cross every day.