Most Houston public swimming pools remain closed due to deadly storm, lifeguard shortage

Fewer than half of the city’s 37 public swimming pools will open in the coming weeks – a result, officials say, of last week’s deadly windstorm, combined with a continuing national lifeguard shortage.

The rate of pools opening represents a much smaller splash than Houston Mayor John Whitmire had hoped for this year when he set a goal to open every city pool after the city was only able to open 23 pools in 2023.

This year, only 12 pools are scheduled to open.

While none of the city’s pools sustained major damage from the storm that will require a season-long shutdown, “they all sustained debris, which has to be removed,” said Ray Derouen Jr., the aquatics manager at the city’s parks department,

As a result, the city will open its pools in a phased process as temperatures climb into the 90s in Houston this week.

Phase one begins on Saturday, May 25, with the opening of six pools: Agnes Moffit ; Emancipation ; Love ; North Wayside ; Westbury ; and Wilson Memorial .

The following weekend, the city will open an additional six pools in its second phase: Greenwood ; MacGregor ; Mason ; Schwartz ; Stude ; and Townwood .

Whitmire said earlier this month that opening all pools is a priority for his administration.

“Many city employees have had to focus on debris cleanup and restoring some of our infrastructure,” Whitmire’s spokeswoman Mary Benton said Friday. “The mayor will rely on the parks director to make the best decision regarding the opening of pools.”

Most pools closed over Memorial Day weekend

City officials have pressed the parks department to push for equity in its pool availability in the wake of a Houston Landing investigation last year that 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, according to the Landing’s analysis.

Equity is still a priority for the parks department, says Derouen. But damage from last week’s storm has pushed the city to make more immediate needs assessments when determining which pools can be opened fastest.

Currently, there is no estimated timeline for when the third phase of pools may open, he noted. The department is continuing to recruit talented swimmers to join its lifeguarding ranks, and the speed at which staffing levels rise will dictate the speed of opening.

“Our intent is to open all the pools,” Derouen said Friday. “We will open as many as we can safely, based on staffing and operational status.”

Houston’s revised public pool schedule

Pools slated for phase one will be open from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, which is Memorial Day. Those same pools will be open next Saturday, June 1, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The phase two pools will be open next Sunday, June 2, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The parks department is in the process of installing signs at aquatic centers across the city, which will spell out hours of operation, Derouen said.

“Over the next several days, we expect to get the signs out as quickly as possible,” he said. “Immediately, anyone can go to houstonparks.org and we have up-to-date information.”