Decaying Pools in Germany

One of the recreational things that you tend to notice about the German landscape....is the number of pools.  Across the landscape, there are thousands of pools that have been built and used by Germans.  Some indoor....most outdoor. 

Some will say in the 1960s and 1970s....there was a 'boom-period' going on with a significant amount of state and federal money poured into pools.

So it came up via the German news yesterday, via ARD (public TV, Channel One) that there is a major problem brewing.

Since 2000 (now 20 years almost).....1,400 public pools have been closed across the country (without replacement).

Chief reason?  During this 1960s/1970s boom-period....a lot of details were missed on the construction process, and these pools became problems to maintain (leakages, sanitation, etc).

The story opens up with a large number of Germans registering their frustration with the local and state folks....not funding repairs or replacement pools.

Presently, there are around 6,400 public pools existing.

The money lacking?  Well, here's the thing.....most of these pools charge enough to cover operating cost, employees, and basic maintenance.  Once you reach a stage where the pool is in decline and you need massive funding....it requires the community to go and find millions to construct the new pool, and tear down the old pool.  That normally has to be paid out of the tax revenue bucket.

About eight miles to the north of my village....a private investment group went out around a decade ago and built a business plan for a pool, spa and fitness gym.  They put the operation within 300 meters of the autobahn to get customers coming home from work.  They had both an outdoor and indoor pool.  They even went and put up covered parking.  All packaged up.....you'd call it a five-star operation. 

To fund the construction and yearly operations cost?  Well, it wasn't exactly a cheap pool.  They tried various ways to encourage people to use the private pool complex, and in the past year.....they finally admitted failure (bankruptcy).  The interesting thing is that it's the only pool in this booming village (the old crappy pool from the early 1960s had already been torn down). 

In this case, the city walked in....arranged a significant bank loan, and flipped a private pool operation into a public pool.  The cost level?  They were able to fund school fitness costs via tax revenue buckets, and they seem to have a business model that will keep the operation going.

But this is another 'shortfall' situation where Germany needs 'mountains' of cash to make the public happy, and the tax revenue simply doesn't exist to cover all of these public 'devices'.  It's the same story with bridges, streets, and parks.....they've developed an infrastructure that requires continual maintenance and replacement....with capital that they simply don't have.