Opinion: As NYC gets hotter, access to pools is more important than ever

Our city is getting hotter each year. New York City broke a 100-year temperature record this summer with three consecutive days of triple-digit heat hitting the five boroughs, leading to more than 100 heat-induced hospitalizations. Multiple heat waves have since followed, bringing unbearable conditions to the city. What once was considered extreme heat is becoming more commonplace, with New York City’s climate being officially reclassified as subtropical humid. 

This situation is not just uncomfortable; it’s a public health risk. According to the city’s Environment and Health Data Report, more than 500 New Yorkers die prematurely each year because of hot weather, and heat stress disproportionately affects Black New Yorkers, who have death rates two times higher than white New Yorkers. We need to offer residents a way to cool off and stay safe while living in this new normal – and bringing unused and broken down pools across the city back online is an effective and impactful way to do that. 

Access to swimming pools can have a huge impact for a city dealing with the highest reported Urban Heat Island Index. Yet NYC is behind in providing this basic solution. Alarmingly, a City Council report shows that 68% of New Yorkers lack access to public pools. Shortly after the start of pool season this summer, several city-operated pools had to close partially or entirely due to facility and public health risks. Additionally, a lack of lifeguards has resulted in the loss of hundreds, if not thousands, of swimming hours for New Yorkers during dangerous heat waves.  

To increase access to pools, government must work together through cross-sector collaboration with recreation partners such as Asphalt Green to minimize pool deserts throughout the city and open more pools across the five boroughs.

Just last year, Asphalt Green and the city Department of Education worked together to reopen the public pool at River East Elementary School in East Harlem, an area that has historically lacked access to high-quality public pools. What started as an abandoned elementary school pool has now become an aquatics hub that is keeping its community active, safe and connected. East Harlem residents are getting the chance to stay cool and explore recreational and competitive swimming in their own neighborhood for the first time. 

Asphalt Green’s presence at River East is possible in large part because of the Wave Makers Initiative, a groundbreaking public-private partnership between our offices and the Gray Foundation that assembled a network of nonprofit program providers to bring free and comprehensive swimming lessons to second graders across New York City. Since reopening, more than 1,000 local students have learned how to swim through free swimming lessons at the River East pool alone. Through Wave Makers, Asphalt Green has also provided free swim lessons at Lehman College’s pool in the Bronx and partnered with the city Department of Parks and Recreation to teach lessons in the pool at Brooklyn College. These public-private partnerships leveraging existing city assets should serve as models for enacting real, effective change for the New Yorkers that need it the most. 

We live in the greatest city in the world, with the nation’s largest public school system, and yet across more than 1,700 public school buildings in the five boroughs, there are only 34 public schools that have functional pools, with an additional 15 that remain closed for repairs. Compare that to a city like Los Angeles, where more than a third of high schools have functional pools. New York City drastically lacks the requisite pool access to not only teach its residents to swim but also keep them safe when pools are needed most.  

Building on the success of Wave Makers, this school year, Asphalt Green will offer free swim lessons at River East Elementary School to every second-grade student in Council District 4 as well as adults who live in the community. If one functional pool can make such a tremendous impact on our communities, imagine how many lives we could change if the rest of our existing pools were also operational. This successful model should serve as a blueprint for not just New York City but cities across the country, on how to increase access to public pools as a matter of public health and safety. 

This summer’s heat waves have already shown that New Yorkers in every district need access to functional pools. With widespread support, we can protect the health and well-being of New Yorkers today and in the increasingly warmer years to come.