By Aria Brent
AFRO Staff Writer
abrent@afro.com
Summer is officially here, bringing with it stifling, hot weather. All across the nation, there have been complaints of scorching temperatures that have left people dehydrated, sick and downright angry. Areas like the nation’s capital reached record highs with temperatures getting up to 100 degrees over the weekend of June 22 according to the National Weather Service.
Leading up to June 24, all the outdoor pools operated by the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) were only open on the weekends, however, all of their outdoor public pools are now open six days a week with varying schedules. Additionally, all of DPR’s spray parks except Fort Greble Recreation Center located in Ward Eight, have been open since June 15 and will remain open until Labor Day.
DPR has a total of 23 outdoor pools, most of which are located in the Anacostia area near Wards seven and eight. Meanwhile, Wards three and four only are reported to have one in each of their regions.
The high temperatures which lead to a high volume of visitors at the pools were well anticipated by DPR. Earlier this year they were looking to fill over 700 seasonal jobs, hoping to hire for positions like lifeguards, and camp and summer program staff. Last year the department extended both the hours and dates of operation for the outdoor pools due to the increased temperatures and they’re reportedly expected to do the same this year.
All DPR indoor and outdoor pools are free to D.C. residents and daily or seasonal passes can be purchased by non-residents online at dpr.dc.gov. Everybody is welcome and at this time there are no reserved hours of operation for District of Columbia Public Schools that use some of the indoor facilities.
A full list of public indoor and outdoor pools, along with spray parks in the D.C. area can be found at dpr.dc.gov.
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