Community swimming pools provide safe, fun space for families to enjoy
One of the biggest draws to joining a community center like the YMCA is the versatility of activities available to members, including access to a pool. For many children and families, this is where core memories are made, friendships are formed and family bonds are strengthened.
This is certainly true for the greater Augusta, Georgia area, where at least half of the YMCA facilities have swimming pools, many of which were built by Genco Pools & Spas.
“These pools are pretty important to the ‘Y’ movement,” says Danny McConnell, CEO of the Family YMCA of Greater Augusta. “Genco does a really good job with ensuring the construction and design result in a pool that, once open, can be run very safely and efficiently from an operations standpoint.”
A lot of thought goes into commercial projects like these, from something as simple as the location of lifeguard chairs to the massively important equipment that’s installed to maintain the proper chemical levels, designed so that it has the right mechanics that make it user friendly to operate and stands up to frequent use.
The most recently completed project was in Barnwell, South Carolina, which opened at the beginning of summer in 2022. “It’s changed that community in Barnwell,” McConnell says. “It’s been very well received by the entire county.”
Right now, there’s a new construction project in the works: an adaptive swimming pool complex for a medical camp out at the lake.
“We’re in partnership with the children’s hospital here in Augusta, and they bring these kids out to try to provide them with a normal camp experience,” McConnell says. “One of the challenges we’ve had is that the immune-compromised children can’t swim in the lake, so we needed a chlorinated environment that’s safe for them.”
The camp pool is slated to open this summer — and Genco is on track to complete the project on schedule and on budget, which is no small feat for a project this size. It’s important to choose the right partners, especially when the end result has the potential to impact so many in the community.
“We’ve stuck with Genco, we trust them, and I think they’re the best in the Southeast to build these big, commercial projects,” McConnell says. “We ask them to do a lot in a short period of time, but they always deliver.”
