New gov't. cash crunch victims: public pools

One of the best ways to beat summer heat is to take a dip in a swimming pool.

But for millions of people, the local public pool isn't an option this year.

Many have been padlocked - victims of local government budget cuts, reports CBS News Correspondent Michelle Miller.

"It looks to be, at least, an easy way for cities to reduce their expenditures," says Jeff Wiltse, author of "Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America."

The trend toward cutbacks in city parks and recreation budgets isn't new, Miller points out. The Great Recession has been draining budgets -- and pools -- since 2009.

"It's no secret," says National Recreation and Park Association CEO Barbara Tulipane, that "states are struggling. So, unfortunately, park and recreation facilities are easy targets by decision-makers."

Wiltse noted it's ironic that, "The great building boom for public pools in the United States occurred, paradoxically, during the Great Depression of the 1930s -- the federal government funded the construction of nearly a thousand public pools across the country.'

Pools get more expensive as they age, and with seasonal operating costs ranging from $30,000 to $100,000 per facility, the costs quickly add up.

Sacramento, Calif. camp counselor Dolly Vang told CBS News, "A lot of kids are coming back, like, 'Why can't we go to the pool? This is our pool. We should be able to be swimming in it right now, to be enjoying it."

And in many communities, having access to supervised swimming can also be a matter of life and death.

During a heat spell in Shreveport, La. last August, six teens drowned while trying to save a friend who had waded, waist high, into the Red River.

"If kids don't have an opportunity to go to a public pool," says Tulipane, "they're gonna find a place to swim, and that could be an irrigation ditch, that could be a rock courier, could be a river -- parks can't monitor kids that are swimming in areas where they shouldn't be. They don't have the staff. Their staff has been decimated by the budget cuts, so there's potentially going to be more drownings this year."

Public pools offer a place where kids can learn how to swim for free. That cuts across racial and economic lines when considering the numbers. Incidents of African-American and Latino children drowning are three times higher than white children, and kids born in low-income areas have a sixty-five percent higher chance of drowning than those born in more affluent neighborhoods.

"This," Tulipane stresses, "is a national crisis, and there has to be a national solution."

In cities such as Houston, where it's too hot to wait for federal assistance, spray parks and splash pads are being installed to help keep kids cool. Philadelphia appealed to its private sector and managed to raise $600,000 to keep all 70 of its pools open.

Even though it's just a short-term solution, parents are relieved.

Asked by Miller what she'd do with her kids if the pool wasn't available, one mother responded, "Not too much. I mean, we could get creative, but it's not very safe. And what do I always say? 'Safety first. Safety first.' So we appreciate this."

Many municipalities, says Miller, are promising to reopen their pools next year.