April 28-May 4, 2005

cityspace

Spray-to-Play

by Kate Salute

Maintaining the 79 pools operated by the Department of Recreation costs the city nearly $4 million each year. When the budget gets tight, pools are usually first on the chopping block.

Now there's a new alternative to closing pools: converting them to "spraygrounds," which feature coiled pipes and nozzles to drizzle water over kids during the doggiest days of summer. There's no worry about wasted water; the spraygrounds will be activated using a motion sensor. All sprayground facilities are ADA accessible. And since water will drain away before it can accumulate, there's no need to hirelifeguards.

"[Spraygrounds] are starting to appear all over the country: New York, Baltimore," says Tom Fox, the department's director of maintenance. Fox says the goal is to have two or three pools converted by June 15. After that, the city will target pools that have shown low usage in densely populated areas.

It comes down to numbers. Fox says that the average cost to maintain a pool for the summer is $49,000. That doesn't include the cost of staffing the pool with lifeguards and swim instructors. And some pools would need to be converted to include a shallow end — necessary for smaller swimmers. Take, for example, the Smith Playground pool, at 24th and Jackson in Grays Ferry, the first to be converted to a sprayground. Making part of the pool shallower would cost $550,000; compare that to just $150,000-$200,000 — depending on the size — to turn it to a sprayground, with only $16,000 per season to maintain it.

But not everyone thinks less is more. According to James Helman, vice president of Grays Ferry's Committee of Concerned Citizens, the budget was reduced as "the result of [Mayor] Street's anti-recreational policies."

"Spraygrounds are basically supersophisticated, glorified fire hydrants," says Helman, who says the plan received "begrudging" community approval at a meeting in December. "Given the choices, they approved [it]. A bird in the hand is better than a pool in the bushes, so to speak." Grays Ferry community leaders are also concerned about kids who prefer a pool and would travel just to use one. Kathleen DeCrescio, an executive assistant at the department, says that each sprayground would be just five blocks away from a pool.

Aside from Smith, which is under construction, two additional spraygrounds are slated for Waterview Recreational Center (Rittenhouse and McMahon streets) and the 48th and Woodland Playground.