Mayor Michelle Wu emphasized city efforts to make swimming safe and accessible Tuesday, speaking to the high rate of pool closures frustrating residents and announcing funding to expand the Swim Safe initiative into the school year.
“This has been a big area of focus for the city,” Wu said on WGBH Tuesday afternoon. “We want every young person growing up in Boston to know how to swim, to have access to swim lessons and that means we need our pools to be open.”
Due to renovations and deferred maintenance, 10 of Boston’s 18 city-run public pools have been closed this summer, including all six pools in Mattapan and Dorchester.
The closures come as the city has redoubled water safety and accessibility efforts around the city. These include the Swim Safe initiative announced in July — which includes investments in free swimming lessons, free life jackets at open water locations and lifeguarding staffing efforts — and $34.3 million budgeted over the next four years for pool repairs and renovations.
Following the city’s first commissioned sweeping evaluation of aquatics infrastructure, Wu noted on WGBH many pools had broken filtration systems, were losing too much water or had other structural issues. Two city pools, the BCYF Paris Street Pool in East Boston and BCYF Hennigan Pool in Jamaica Plain, were recently reopened after renovations.
Many of the pools are within school facilities, Wu said, meaning they had to be closed for pool and building renovations during the summer break.
“About a year or year and a half, we should be able to see all of the work that we’re doing in getting the renovations started and completed really coming online,” Wu said, adding that some will open later this year but another two in schools are scheduled for closure next summer.
Wu also emphasized no pools are closed this year due to staffing shortages, calling lifeguard recruitment this year “a major success and step forward” in the WGBH segment. In summer 2022, five pools were reportedly closed due to staffing issues.
The city also announced new investments in the Swim Safe initiative Tuesday, allowing the program to provide for free swim lessons and aquatic programming past the summer.
“The Swim Safe Boston grant program will help ensure that our partners have year-round support to help meet the high demand for swim lessons in Boston,” said Human Services Chief José Massó in a city release. “We are excited to see so much enthusiasm for swimming, and we want to continue the momentum generated this summer into the school-year.”
Drownings are the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4 and the second leading cause of injury death for children ages 5-14, and drownings disproportionately affect Black and Latino children. Wu previously noted swim lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 90%.
Non-profits operating pools can apply for Swim Safe grants up to $150,000 until Sept.15.
Free swim lessons have been offered over the summer at BCYF, YMCA, DCR and Boys and Girls Clubs locations around the city.
Currently closed BCYF public pools include the Clougherty Pool in Charlestown; Draper Pool in West Roxbury; Quincy in Chinatown; Blackstone in the South End; Holland, Leahy-Holloran, Marshall and Perkins in Dorchester; and Mattahunt and Mildred Avenue in Mattapan.