JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A few swimming pools operated by the city of Jacksonville are a scary sight.
Bright green instead of clear blue.
This weekend is expected to be a scorcher, but don’t count on cooling off at Sunny Acres, Woodland Acres and or Terry Parker pools.
A city of Jacksonville spokesperson said a motor blew at Terry Parker, which is why it isn’t open, but a couple others are closed because there’s a shortage of lifeguards.
Even with a minimum wage increase, the city couldn’t hire enough people to man each swimming pool.
Executive Director of the Northeast Chapter of the Florida Swimming Pool Association Debi Garner said these pools should be open for the community.
“Here’s our taxpayer dollars at work,” Garner said. “We promote swimming. Florida is surrounded by water. One of our things is to prevent childhood drownings. Florida Swimming Pool Association has a large campaign going statewide for Every Child A Swimmer. In this condition, we certainly can’t offer free and reduced swimming lessons.”
Woodland Acres pool is green in some areas, too, though the city is working to sanitize it.
Commercial manager of Northeast Florida Pool Services Alex Miller said swimming in water like this would be like swimming in a retention pond.
“Algae is primarily caused by a lack of filtration and a lack of chemicals,” Miller said. “So it’s not just chlorine, but it’s also acid and cyanuric acid, which is the sunscreen for chlorine. Filtration needs to happen on a commercial application 24/7.”
Garner said it’s sad Sunny Acres Pool isn’t opening because it’s handicap accessible. She also said there are also competitive swim teams that need to begin practice soon but won’t be able to use some of these city pools.
“They’re advertising greatly that the pools are open,” Garner said. “And now we have people coming to spend a day with their children at a relaxing area and it’s not able to happen.”
The city said there’s also a supply shortage, so they aren’t sure if they’ll get the replacement part for Terry Parker pool in time to open it this summer.