Lifeguard Shortages Loom as Public Pools and Beaches Prep for Hot Summer

Forecasts for the Northeast suggest that New Yorkers are in for a historically hot summer. As the city swelters under its first major heatwave of the season, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has activated the city’s emergency heat plan.

And while Mamdani cannonballed into the Thomas Jefferson Pool in East Harlem in a two piece business suit on June 27 to highlight the opening of the city’s public pools for the season, the nagging lifeguard shortage now in its sixth year, may stop some residents from taking a similar plunge along the city’s 14 miles of ocean beaches.

While the heat may be putting a damper on some 4th of July weekend plans, there is one solace: part of the emergency heat plan included extending the hours of the city’s Olympic- and intermediate-sized outdoor pools until 8:30 p.m. from July 1 to July 4.

To find places to stay cool from pools to sprinklers, log onto Cool It NYC. Here’s what readers should know about the NYC Parks Department’s public outdoor pools and beaches as the city seeks to cool down this holiday weekend and beyond.

What’s Open?

The city’s public beaches opened early in the season on May 23, but outdoor pools opened for the summer on June 27—including 16 in Manhattan and 53 across the city. Both the beaches and pools will be open until mid-September.

In the past, lifeguard staffing shortages have led to partial closures at some outdoor pools and portions of the city’s 14 miles of ocean beaches along the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens and Orchid Beach in the Bronx.

For the city to fully staff all beaches and pools, it would need an estimated 1,400 lifeguards. At the moment, the Parks Department only has around 900 certified lifeguards. Though 500 short of the 1,400 of level needed to fully staff all beaches and pools, it is slowly recovering and is slightly ahead of last year’s staffing pace.

The city typically hits its staffing peak in mid-July. Last year, the city employed a little over 1,000 lifeguards at peak, the largest amount since the pre-COVID year of 2019.

Despite the shortages of lifeguards, the Parks Department had not announced any partial closures for the city’s outdoor poolsin Manhattan this year, aside from its long running and controversial closure of the Tony Dapolito pool in Greenwich Village. Preservationists are seeking to save the pool and center; the city wants to demolish it and replace it with a new center nearby.

Regular hours at the pools are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, with a break between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. for “cleaning” in which everyone is ordered out as the entire pool area, not just the swimming pool. Ocean beaches do not have a similar one hour break forcing people to evacuate the beach.

However, several public beaches were forced to close for the sweltering July 4 weekend due to high bacteria levels and shark sightings. The city recommends checking its maps, which it updates daily, for the most up-to-date information on beach closures.

Swimming is only permitted while lifeguards are on duty, which occurs daily from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m. Hours are not extended even during summer heat waves, although virtually all drownings at city beaches have come after lifeguards have gone off duty.

Learning to Swim?

Pre-covid, all city pools in Manhattan offered swim programs for kids taught by lifeguards. It has not come close to that level since. But this year, the Parks Department is adding its Learn to Swim program to eight new locations across the city this summer, nearly doubling the pools that offer the free swimming lessons from 10 to 18. While short of the peak, it is the highest number of locations to offer the lessons since 2019.

“Every child deserves to enjoy the water safely,” Mamdani said in a press release. “That’s why we’re expanding free swim lessons across the five boroughs—giving more young New Yorkers access to an essential life skill, saving families money and making sure every child feels confident in the water.”

Despite the rosy proclamations, of the 16 outdoor pools in Manhattan, only five will be offering the program. The lessons will take place at Hamilton Fish Park in the Lower East Side, Asser Levy Playground in Kips Bay, John Jay Park on the Upper East Side, Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem, and Gottesman Pool at the Davis Center in Central Park, which opened last summer.

Lessons are broken up by age, with groups for toddlers 1.5 to 5 years old accompanied by a parent and for children 6 to 17. The classes will offer lessons to 16,000 participants, who are chosen through a lottery.

The city is offering four 3-week sessions. Registration for the first session has already closed, but registration for the second session, which will run from July 22 to August 6, closes on July 8. Registration for the third session closes on July 24 and runs from August 7 to August 21.

The fourth session will be an advanced child swimming program and will run from August 24 to August 28. Registration for that session closes August 20. This one-week session will only be available to children ages 6-17.

What about the Tony Dapolito Pool?

For those hoping to cool off at the historic Tony Dapolito Recreation Center’s outdoor pool, prepare for another summer of disappointment.

Five years after the beloved Greenwich Village center closed in 2020 for “renovations,” the Parks Department announced it would be demolishing the 120-year-old building. Instead, it announced it intended to use the funding and lot to build affordable housing.

After public backlash, Mamdani said during his mayoral candidacy he would support restoring the center as intended. However, plans to move forward on renovations have been at a standstill. Preservationists are still pushing to save the center, which happens to have an outdoor mural in the pool area pained by legendary artist Keith Haring. But Mamdani has not acted on a pledge to abort the city plan to knock and it down and rebuild it elsewhere.

While New Yorkers will have a few other options for a dip in the pool, there will be no swimming alongside the iconic Keith Haring mural this summer.