Pittsburgh will open 15 swimming pools this season, with the city’s remaining three — Homewood, Ream in Mt. Washington and Sheraden — closed for repairs and renovations.
The city’s 10-week pool season will start on Saturday, June 15, officials said.
Specific pool hours and aquatics programming details have not yet been announced.
The Homewood pool will not open this year because of park renovations taking place at the site, said Olga George, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Gainey.
Ream is closed because of a “trip and fall hazard” posed by deteriorated concrete, Department of Public Works Director Chris Hornstein said. Temporary repairs aren’t holding up, he said, so crews will need to remove the liner and make longer-term fixes.
Sheraden pool, which has been closed since the covid-19 pandemic, will remain closed again this year. Hornstein said some repairs have already been made at the site, like fixing an electrical problem, but there are additional issues with the pool deck and equipment that need to be addressed.
Gainey on Monday stood outside of the Bloomfield pool — which was closed for repairs last year, but will reopen this summer — and stressed the importance of pools for the city’s kids.
“Sometimes this is a safe haven for them,” Gainey said. “It’s always something they can look forward to.”
Officials in recent years have struggled to staff the city’s pools. The city opened 15 pools last year after scrambling to get enough lifeguards on board. Staffing problems in 2022 meant only 11 pools could open.
Department of Parks and Recreation Director Kathryn Vargas said officials have been working to recruit and train lifeguards throughout the off-season so they could open as many pools as possible this summer.
That included recruitment at Pittsburgh Public Schools and local swim meets “to make sure we’re looking for folks who are here in our community who are interested and see it as a viable career choice for the summer.”
Training was provided for people who wanted to be lifeguards but weren’t immediately ready to pass the necessary certification test, Vargas said. The city trained potential lifeguard recruits at Carrick High School’s pool.
The city has about 140 lifeguards ready to man the 15 pools opening this summer, Vargas said, but they’re still looking to hire.
“Opening these pools is truly a community effort,” she said.
If the city plans to open all 18 pools next summer, she said, they’ll need about 200 lifeguards.
Alanna Giglio, 19, of East Liberty, is about to start her third season as a city lifeguard. She first signed up after seeing a sign advertising the position on the fence outside of the Bloomfield pool.
“It’s a great job,” she said. “The pay is really nice. The people are really friendly. You really get to know the community.”
Pay for new city lifeguards — who must be city residents — starts at over $16 per hour and can jump to just over $19 per hour depending on experience.
Giglio’s first summer as a lifeguard was spent at Bloomfield’s pool, and she said she was excited to see it reopen this year.
“I definitely was upset that it wasn’t open last year,” she said. “I know a lot of people were really upset about it.”