Public pools are good, actually

My summer Sunday afternoon ritual goes something like this: I wake up, kill time until noon when my local public pool opens, swim for about an hour, then park myself in a lawn chair with a book (and a hat and lots of sunscreen), taking intermittent dips until the lifeguards close the gates in the […]

My summer Sunday afternoon ritual goes something like this: I wake up, kill time until noon when my local public pool opens, swim for about an hour, then park myself in a lawn chair with a book (and a hat and lots of sunscreen), taking intermittent dips until the lifeguards close the gates in the evening.

I watch groups of friends bob up and down at the point where the shallow end becomes the deep end. I listen to the chatter of kids repeating taglines they’ve heard from TikTok or YouTube as they dive after balls. Sometimes they ask to borrow my goggles and I just give them my spares. The lifeguards tell the kids to stop roughhousing. Despite living in a major city with dozens of well-attended public pools, this one feels like a secret, located behind a museum and surrounded by thousands of acres of park space. This, to me, is heaven. 

These community pools offer more than just a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. They provide vital spaces to cool off, a free location for kids to hang out, a low-impact way to exercise, and a third place bringing members of the neighborhood together. But a history of racism and segregation, decades of disinvestment, and a turn toward private swim clubs and personal pools means that not everyone has access to these magical places. It can make finding a public pool in your area difficult. 

From the 1920s through the 1940s, cities built public pools by the thousands, according to Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America by Jeff Wiltse. In 1933, Americans spent as much time swimming as they did going to the movies, Wiltse writes. In New York City, for instance, 11 pools were opened over the course of a few weeks in the summer of 1936. Nationwide, these pools were largely racially segregated, and pushes to integrate them throughout the 1940s and ’50s were met with violence from white rioters and protesters. 

Rather than integrate pools, municipalities sold, filled, or neglected them until they fell into disrepair. As people moved from cities to suburbs, taxpayer funding for pools shrank, forcing thousands to shutter and creating an opportunity for private clubs to open instead. In the 1950s and early ’60s, over 20,000 private swim clubs opened in mostly white suburbs. Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are about 309,000 public pools in the country, compared to 10.4 million private ones — a staggering disparity.

Two of the biggest challenges public pools face are funding and staffing, says Melissa May, the senior manager of research at the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA). Local parks, which include community pools run by municipalities, receive 60 percent of their funding through tax support, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2021 Infrastructure Report Card. “Inconsistent, uncertain funding makes capital planning for parks difficult,” the report says. Since the pandemic, a lifeguard shortage has also put a strain on pools, causing some not to open or to operate with limited hours.

Despite these challenges, your local public pool can be a sanctuary, offering solace from the heat, providing a place to connect with others, and a safe space to learn or improve your swimming ability. Don’t forget water, a snack, and lots of sunscreen. 

A mentally and physically enriching place

As extreme heat grips the nation — and the world — public pools are a low-cost way for the community to cool off. “When the heat rises, they can also be, literally, life-saving spaces for folks to cool down and keep their body temperature safe,” says Jessica Finlay, an assistant professor in the Institute of Behavioral Science and the department of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder, who’s studied third places.

Not only does keeping your body temperature down prevent you from developing heat stroke and other heat-related illnesses, but it can fend off cognitive and mood impacts of heat, like aggressiveness and mental sluggishness when processing information. 

In general, aquatic activities — like swimming, water aerobics, or even floating in water — have myriad benefits. They’ve been linked to better mental health and positive mood. Swimming has also been shown to improve memory and cognitive function. Aside from the boost to mental health, a few laps in a pool improves heart health and lung capacity, lowers blood pressure, reduces joint pain, and increases bone strength, according to research.

Public pools can also be places where non-swimmers learn crucial water safety skills. Over 4,500 people died from drowning each year from 2020 to 2022, according to CDC data. American Indian or Alaska Native and Black people have the highest rates of drowning compared to other races and ethnicities. 

With these statistics in mind, Paulana Lamonier founded Black People Will Swim, an organization that has offered swimming lessons and aquatic education to some 2,500 participants over the last five years. Public pools are safe spaces for people to learn to swim, Lamonier says, because they often offer free or affordable lessons for children and adults under supervision from lifeguards and instructors. When people are confident, they can more fully reap the benefits of being in and near the water, she says. “There’s a sense of calmness that swimming brings that people tend to forget,” Lamonier says. “When they’re fearful, they fight it. They’re trying to resist it. You’re trying to stay above water. But when you really calm down and relax, that’s where you really see [that you] know what to do.”

An accessible place for all ages

Like many third places, public pools bring together members of the community of all ages and backgrounds. “We so often push older ages to the periphery,” Finlay says, “and pools are spaces where there are designated programs for older adults, in addition to children.” Pools are where sunbathing teenagers rub shoulders with lap-swimming retirees. This melting pot effect can contribute to your sense of community belonging, which, in turn, can lead to improved mental and physical health. One study found that when people went to pools for social contact, they reported less isolation and stress and improved mental health. An Australian report found that public pools encouraged social cohesion and connection.

Pools are not only great places to hang, but are also a key employer during the summer months. According to the NRPA’s seasonal hiring report, lifeguards account for two-thirds of the summer’s seasonal hires at parks and rec centers across the country. Many of these parks employees are under the age of 24, suggesting that pools — and parks and recreation jobs in general — offer teens and young adults first-time job experience. Lifeguards, without whom pools cannot function, are in high demand nationwide. In recent years, older Americans have taken on post-retirement careers as lifeguards to ensure more pools can open — and stay open for longer hours. 

Having somewhere to go that’s low-cost and accessible can be life-changing for older adults or people with disabilities. In her work studying how built environments impact older adults, Finlay heard from research participants who use public pools year-round. She remembers one woman in particular who, in the aftermath of a stroke, frequented a local pool. Once she entered the water, Finlay recalls, the pain on the woman’s face fell away. 

“It was just this experience where a lot of her chronic pain that had stemmed from complications from stroke and surgeries, it just diminished,” she says. The participant met up with a group of other women who chatted as they walked up and down the length of the pool. “It was very visible how therapeutic it was for their mental health, physical health, and social health,” Finlay says. Similarly, Lamonier holds classes for pairs — best friends, couples, family members — who often connect and bond.

How to find — and support — your public pool

Your municipality’s parks and recreation department will often have an online directory of public pools, including membership fees. (For example, here are lists for New York City, Colorado Springs, and Phoenix.) The online database Swimmers Guide allows you to search by location for all pools in your area, including pools where you may need to pay a membership fee. May suggests asking your neighbors if they have a pool they frequent.

The easiest way to support public pools, May says, is to frequent them and tell local lawmakers how much you value them. May suggests sharing your suggestions to open long-closed pools or to extend operational hours with local officials, from parks and recreation directors to city councilmembers. Consider the current popularity of pickleball, she says. “The people who are playing pickleball are very vocal, so they’re getting their courts,” she says. “So if people share that passion about pools that [is] currently being shared about pickleball, then it’ll help the cause.”