What
Kind of City Doesn’t Have A Pool!
When I moved to Madison in the summer of 2000, the first thing I
did, before unpacking my room or looking for my classes, was dive into my
suitcase and grab my swimming suit. When
I asked my house fellow for directions to the nearest public pool, I was shocked
to learn that the city did not have one. “What!
What kind of city has no pool?” I
asked myself.
Some of my fondest childhood memories happened in pools—I learned
to swim in a pool, played Marco Polo and eventually became a lifeguard and
worked at a pool during high school. I
shuddered to think of what opportunities the children of Madison were missing
out on.
Lake water is okay, but sometimes a nice, clean pool is all that
will do to refresh the body on those sweltering summer days.
Anyways, the lakes in Madison are not all that they are cracked out to
be. While Madison is a relatively
clean city, much of the city’s
uncollected waste runs off into the same lakes swimmers make their home.
Madison’s
lakes act as a sponge to the city’s
storm and sewer discharges. The
Yahara River, located on Lake Mendota’s
north shore, feeds Mendota and Monona with agricultural runoff.
Agricultural waste, manure, algae promoting fertilizers and other
chemical pollutants all gather in Madison’s
lakes.
Additionally, an E Coli bacterium from fecal matter plagues Madison’s lakes. Last year E
Coli bacteria populations forced Lake Wingra to close to swimmers.
Swimmers in this small lake have often blamed poor water quality for
infections and health problems. Wingra
acts as a warning sign that Madison ’s
lakes may face dangers bacteria levels soon.
Madison’s current swimming facilities would fail to meet the
population’s demands if an ecological disaster were to strike.
At the current time, Madison has no safe, public accessible alternative
to lake swimming.
In the long run, pool construction would cost less than cleaning the
swimming areas of Madison’s
lakes. A University of Wisconsin
survey revealed that Madison residents were willing to spend upwards of $50
million dollars to clean the lakes. Public
pool construction costs pale in comparison to this massive figure.
While the water quality in Madison’s
lakes must be maintained, alternatives to lakes must be investigated when making
such enormous investments. The city
of Madison can clean the lakes and build a public pool at the same time.
Building a public pool makes sense from an environmental perspective. It makes sense from a social perspective. Having a public pool sends a message that the city of Madison cares about all of its residents. Swimmers must be given an alternative to dirty lake water. We need a public pool.
It seems as if Madison is neglecting its citizens. Those of us who live in this beautiful city and cannot afford to belong to a private pool are not left with many options. With so many public facilities for sports and recreation, why does Madison lack a pool, a primary facility for activity and amusement? There are so many obvious positive aspects to having a public pool. First of all, a public pool in the community would allow all children to enjoy the entertaining and dynamic activity of swimming. A public pool would be beneficial to children and adults alike, and as the activity levels of society reach increasingly low levels, it seems that we need an outlet to give people the means to pursue an active lifestyle. A public pool is the ideal way to create a tight-knit community that is active, healthy, and happy.