With no pool, Sydney councils must ensure generation of swimmers do not miss out

It has been an unseasonably warm Easter long weekend, but – with beaches closed for dangerous surf conditions – the only option for many to enjoy a swim has been a trip to the local pool.

However, as Jessica McSweeney and Megan Gorrey report in today’s Sun-Herald, many communities across Sydney are preparing for summers without easy access to a public pool, while others wait years for theirs to reopen, with a glut of the city’s mid-century and even older aquatic centres requiring refurbishments.

In addition to the beleaguered North Sydney Olympic Pool – which was closed in February 2021 and may fail to open until November, as has been flagged by the council – Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool at The Domain, and Epping and Canterbury’s aquatic centres are all currently closed for renovations.

As reported by the Herald in February, Australia’s 2103 public pools are already buckling under pressure with too few facilities in growing areas, ageing infrastructure blowing council budgets, and long waits for swimming lessons.

The situation seems likely to get worse before it gets better.

Royal Life Saving Australia (RLSA) has flagged that a huge number of local pools are reaching the end of their lifespans. With so many constructed in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, around 500, or 40 per cent, of Australia’s public swimming pools will require replacement in the next decade.

The closures coming across Sydney over the next year will leave some parts of Sydney with high migrant populations with no local pool.

This is particularly concerning, when you consider that people who did not grow up in Australia and those from non-English-speaking backgrounds are among the groups considered most at-risk for drowning.

Surf Life Saving Australia is advocating for greater federal investment in public pools to help councils feel more confident planning renovations.

In a city where one council has resorted to an 87 per cent rate hike to fund its over-budget, over-time pool renovations, it is fair that councils, and local swimming groups, are wary of what signing off on a temporary pool closure could mean.

As occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, years without a pool will mean missed swimming lessons for children and adults. This can leave them exposed at less safe swimming environments, such as rivers or unpatrolled beaches. The vast majority of drownings in Australia occur in unpatrolled locations.

Multiple people have drowned in tragic incidents across the NSW coast this weekend.

If Sydney’s pools will need to close over the coming summers, perhaps we need to look beyond the pool as a place to teach swim safety.

Penrith’s Pondi Beach, Barangaroo’s Marinawi Cove and Putney Beach on the Parramatta River are all places where the recreational benefits of a body of water have been brought to those who live away from Sydney’s eastern coast. Perhaps, in the style of Nippers, outdoor spaces should be considered to provide water education, as well as fun.

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