The Decline of America’s Public Pools
As summers get hotter, public pools help people stay cool. Why are they so neglected?
TL;DR
- Torrential rain in August 2022 caused a mudslide that damaged Pittsburgh's Highland Park Pool, forcing its closure.
- Pittsburgh has the second-highest number of operational swimming pools per capita, but the infrastructure is aging and underfunded.
- Deferred maintenance and underfunding plague American public pools, with many neglected for years.
- Investment in public infrastructure has fallen since 1970, while city populations and summer temperatures have increased.
- Historical factors, including racist reactions to desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s, led to the closure of many municipal pools.
- Extreme heat is increasingly cited as a reason to maintain and fund municipal pools as crucial climate infrastructure.
- Florissant, Missouri, instituted a property tax to fund pool repairs, reopening its largest public pool.
- New York City is investing over $1 billion to improve and build public pools, citing climate change.
- Alternative concepts like 'swimmable cities' are proposed, but experts question the cost and complexity compared to maintaining existing pools.
- Funding from federal initiatives like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal and the Inflation Reduction Act could potentially support public pools as climate resilience measures.