Philly area swimmers--anyone swim in the Schuylkill?

Hey all, I know they hold a couple of tri's in the area that include a Schuylkill swim. After one of them, I was talking to a guy who participated, and he said he often did practice swims in the Schuylkill on his own. I can't see myself doing that--not ready to assume the risks of swimming alone in that river--but are there ever organized swims outside of the triathlons? I'm not interested in doing the tri's (the bike part never interested me, and I have a gimpy foot so can't run), but I think it would be cool to just do the swim portion of a tri (although I'm not fast enough for a team to see me as an asset if they want to be competitive)--even better if they'd ever have stand-alone o.w. swims, since the location is so convenient for me. Has anyone gotten word of stand-alone swims in the works?