AIKEN, S.C. (WFXG) - The swimming pool at Aiken’s Smith-Hazel Community Center is closed today, but the city’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism expects plenty of people to enjoy the pool this summer.

Councilwoman Gayle Diggs knows the importance of learning to swim.

“I don’t know how to swim," she explains. "I knew it was important for kids on this side of town to be able to not only get in the water and play in the water, but actually swim and learn about water safety.”

That’s why, in 2019, construction began on a $1.25 million swimming pool located on Aiken’s northside. The pool opened during the height of Covid-19, in the summer of 2020, and since then has faced a very specific challenge--a shortage of lifeguards to staff the pool.

"Young people aren’t applying for these positions like they would in the past,” Diggs tells FOX54.

“We would need three lifeguards on duty if one person was in the pool,” says Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Director Jessica Campbell.

As a result of the shortage, she says, the pool had to close unexpectedly several times, including on weekends, leaving would-be swimmers disappointed.

That’s when the city decided to make a change. The pool was established as a class-E facility, similar to water parks, because of its "Vortex" slide feature. This month, the city moved to reclassify the pool to a type-B, more similar to a subdivision pool, which required removal of the slide, and no longer requires lifeguards on duty.

“Internally, we have put together our own lifeguard-to-user ratio and we feel very confident that it’s a safe number," says Campbell, "in addition to providing lifejackets for any youth who may not be as confident in their ability.”

Still, some residents have concerns, citing north Aiken’s higher population of black residents and decreased access to safe swimming pools for those children to use.

“The drowning rates are higher among black children than white children," reports resident Laura Lance. This is according to studies by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC. Lance adds, "The types of pools that create the greatest risks are pools that are specifically this type-B.”

While Councilwoman Diggs agrees this is a concern, she says, the way to correct it is to allow the pool to be open, with longer hours, to children on the northside.

“Hardly anyone has a backyard pool over here on the northside. It’s all about access. Parents don’t know how to swim, and the children don’t either because we just didn’t have the access.”

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