New York City has three main rivers: the East, the Harlem and the Hudson. This summer, another mighty “river” was born — not around Manhattan but on the island itself.

Enter “Rio Manhattan” in Washington Heights, the brainchild of 45-year-old Alex Rolon. On hot days over the past two months, he’s been opening a fire hydrant next to a bike lane at 188th Street and Laurel Hill Terrace, putting a traffic barrel over the resulting stream and flooding the roadside to make a kind of lazy-river-meets-splash-park for residents.

The installation has attracted dozens of people from all over the neighborhood and beyond, giving kids a place to cool down and play next to Highbridge Park. It’s also gone viral on social media, making Rolon a city summer influencer whose videos have racked up tens of

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