Austin Overcomes Lifeguard Shortages, Turns Public Aquatics Program Around

The city of Austin, Texas, will be able to open all of its public pools this year as the city has finally hired enough lifeguards to staff all of its facilities. 

According to the Austin Monitor, the Austin Parks and Recreation Department was able to hire 1,000 lifeguards to keep its 32 public pools operational this season. 

Since the onset of the COVID pandemic, Austin, like many other cities, has seen lifeguard shortages that impacted the city’s ability to provide swim lessons and other aquatics services.

So how did the city turn things around? An audit of the parks department's aquatics operation found that an outdated and unnecessarily complicated application system was incorrectly turning away hundreds of applicants.

The city has since streamlined the application process, raised its minimum wage to $20 per hour and conducted a dedicated outreach campaign.

On Monday, the parks department announced via press release that it has hired 1,000 lifeguards – enough to fully staff its 32 pools and 11 splash pads throughout the city, which are now open for the season.

“The Department would like to thank Mayor (Kirk Watson) and Council, City leadership, Human Relations, partner organizations, communications staff, and the dedicated lifeguards who helped make this possible,” the press release reads.

In addition to the raised wage, Council also agreed to offer lifeguards a free uniform, a Capital Metro bus pass, and a $400 training stipend for those who work a specific number of hours during the season.

In February, the Austin City Council  overwhelmingly approved an Aquatic Master Plan, a 640-page document crafted by the Parks and Recreation Department that provides guidance for repairing and expanding the city’s aging system of pools.

The plan says that the capital costs necessary to improve the system range from $152 million to $193 million, “depending on how many of the current Neighborhood Pools are kept in operation.”