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The city pool at Eastwood Park looks different this May compared to past summers: There’s water in it.
After shutting down public pools in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city of Houston has struggled to reopen these summertime staples during record-breaking heatwaves. In 2022, only 12 out of 38 opened; last summer, the city was able to open 23 pools for three days a week.
This year, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department has set a goal to open 37 aquatic centers around the city, representing all but one pool at Tidwell Community Center, which is down for mandatory maintenance.
“We intend to open all pools as soon as we have available staff,” said Ray Derouen Jr., the aquatics manager at the city’s parks department.
Opening all the pools would rectify a clear inequity brought to city hall’s attention last year via Houston Landing’s reporting. A Landing analysis of the city open pools in 2023 found that the median household income in ZIP codes where the city opened a public pool was 22 percent higher than the median income in ZIP codes where the public pools remained closed.
Those neighborhoods where pools remained dry in 2023 were also home to more residents of color: In ZIP codes where the city’s pools remained shut, only 12.5 percent of residents are white; in ZIP codes with at least one city pool opened, the share is about 21 percent.
“It’s crucial to do this,” said City Council Member Letitia Plummer, who was outspoken about the need to open more pools last summer. “A lot of Black and brown communities don’t have access. And it’s going to be really hot this summer. They’re already saying we’re going to see temperatures higher than normal.”
Public pools are a necessary city service, she continued. “I don’t want our pools to be something that’s more of a luxury, because I think that’s what we’ve been seeing.”
Public pools as a city priority
Mayor John Whitmire said Thursday in a statement that opening all the city’s pools is a priority for his administration.
“I see the value of children having an opportunity to swim and play in a pool over the summer instead of being sedentary or having too much time on their hands and getting in trouble,” Whitmire said. “We are doing our best to recruit lifeguards and prepare all our pools. I let the parks director know this is a priority, and the department is working hard to meet our goal.”
While water has been pumped into long-empty pools, Eika Madison, an administrative manager at the parks department, cautions that “pool opening is contingent upon onboarding the necessary qualified and trained lifeguard staff,” a feat that has proven insurmountable in recent years as Houston – along with many other cities across the nation – has contended with a lifeguard shortage.
Derouen said the department will know by mid-May whether it has recruited enough lifeguards to staff all the city’s public pools, which are set to open on Memorial Day weekend.
The pools will open three days a week, as they did last year, to double the impact staff can have on the city, Derouen noted.
To entice lifeguards, the parks department is offering a $500 incentive for lifeguards who work the entire summer. Pay rates for lifeguards will start at $16 an hour, and increase to $18 an hour for head lifeguards and $20 for aquatic center supervisors.
That pay structure remains unchanged from last year, when the city hired 130 lifeguards. Also unchanged: The requirement that lifeguards be at least 16 years old by May 31, despite the fact that the state allows 15-year-olds to be hired for the job.
Employing younger lifeguards has been a boon to other cities, including Austin, which hired 1,121 guards last year – about 30 to 40 percent of which were 15.
Houston looked into lowering its required age, but was advised by the city’s legal department to keep the minimum as it was, says Plummer.
“It’s unfortunate they have to be 16 years old,” she says. “That did come through legal, and I don’t think it will change, because of a local municipal liability concern.”
City of Houston recruiting more lifeguards
- The Houston Parks and Recreation Department is actively recruiting skilled swimmers to work as lifeguards this summer.
- Lifeguards must be 16 years old as of May 31, and must pass the standard Lifeguard Swim Evaluation.
- To apply, visit http://www.houstontx.gov/jobs, or call 832-395-7129 to schedule a swim evaluation.
- Pay starts at $16 an hour, and lifeguards who work from June 30 through the end of the summer will receive a $500 incentive bonus.
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Contingency plans for the summer
If the parks department is unable to hire enough staff to open all operable pools, Derouen said the city will select locations to open first based on three criteria: Historical attendance; equal representation among city council districts; and geographical distribution.
“Historical attendance is our biggest driver, so we try to open the pools that are highest attended” said Derouen. “That’s where it starts for us, because it gives us the ability to reach as many of the population as we can.”
To gauge attendance in a city where many pools have been tarped for several years, Derouen said the city uses figures from before the pandemic in its calculations.
But that might not be the best indicator of which pools truly need to be open to serve the community, said Plummer. The most important thing, she said, is to ensure that the pools are opened with an eye on equity.
“If I see for one moment that this is not an equitable decision, and not dispersed across the city from that perspective, we’ll definitely discuss that with the administration and make the necessary changes,” Plummer says. “That’s not going to happen again.”
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