Status: 18.09.2021 3:45 p.m.
With an unusual project, several cities and municipalities in Bavaria are opposing the trend towards closing swimming pools: They are running a new pool – and sharing the losses.
Around 70 public baths close in Germany every year. They cease operations or are privatized because the costs are too high for the municipalities.
The “buoyancy” decreases
In 2000 there were still around 3,500 indoor swimming pools. Five years ago there were only about 2,300 baths where children, teenagers and adults come together to splash around, swim or exercise. The result: The “swimming ability” of society is decreasing, as the German Lifesaving Society DLRG says. 59 percent of 10-year-old children are not safe swimmers.
Contrary to the trend, a new “inter-communal” indoor swimming pool has just opened in Geretsried, around 30 kilometers south of Munich. In 2017, two cities and six municipalities in the Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen district joined forces for this purpose. The city of Geretsried took over the management, planned and built the new indoor swimming pool Geretsried.
Sports pool and diving area
The new bathroom is not a fun temple. You won’t find any water landscapes or giant slides for children and teenagers. But as a school and club pool with regular opening times for the population of half a district, the pool has a future. Four swimming pools are housed in two halls. There is a 25-meter lap pool and diving area, a teaching pool and a children’s paddling pool.
The concept works because the communities in a region jointly bear the calculated deficit for the company. For the cities of Geretsried and Wolfratshausen with the surrounding communities – a total of around 70,000 residents live there – they have to raise 750,000 euros annually.
Offer also for the emergency services
There is no public resistance, says Geretsried’s mayor Ludwig Müller from the CSU at the inauguration: “The population wants this bath.” In addition to the many children who will learn to swim here, the sports clubs, rehab sports and rescue services also benefit. There is now a training opportunity in winter for the water rescue groups that save lives on Lake Starnberg, according to District Administrator Josef Niedermeier of the Free Voters.
The partners have invested around 19 million euros in the new facility, and the Free State of Bavaria is supporting the project with 4.2 million euros. It is operated by the Stadtwerke in Geretsried. They have assigned eleven full-time employees to organize the swimming pool. The model could also be suitable for other municipalities that do not want or cannot afford an indoor swimming pool on their own.