NEPA communities installing splash pads as swimming options dry up

Parks with water spraying from nozzles have made a big splash in communities across the region.

Splash pads have grown as options to cool off during the summer months as public swimming pools have dried up. In recent years, officials in multiple communities proposed installing splash pads.

Scranton officials are planning two splash pads in the city, joining the Novembrino Splash Pad which opened in 2021.

Crews plan to start construction of a splash pad and playground later this year at the defunct Penn Ridge pool site in Scranton’s Pine Brook neighborhood. The facilities, funded by $1.4 million from the federal American Rescue Plan and $125,000 from the state Department of Community and Economic Development Greenways, Trails and Recreation Program, will also include a parking lot and bath house.

A splash pad is also included in a three-phase project restoring swimming amenities at Nay Aug Park. The first phase, financed by $3 million in American Rescue Plan and $1 million in state Local Share Account funds, will be construction of an activity pool, which officials hope to start this year, with a lap pool and splash pad included in the later phases.

“We’ve got the amenities that we know are going to be used by all ages of kids this summer and we’ll be able to add more amenities around the city in the next couple of years,” Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti said.

In Dickson City, officials plan to apply for a grant next year to put a splash pad in a 30 by 40-foot area at Bernard Seminski Memorial Park, colloquially known as the Elm Street Park, part of comprehensive improvement projects at the park and Crystal Park. It would include spray heads and a rubber surface.

Borough Manager Cesare Forconi said the proposed splash pad would give children a place to cool off and bring in families with younger children to the park.

“It will be a nice compliment to the other elements the park offers,” he said.

A master plan for Wright Twp.’s municipal park in Luzerne County includes a 2,000-square foot splash pad.

A splash pad at McDade Park was the most recent one built in the region, opening last year.

Easy maintenance

Communities that have splash pads say they are cheaper to maintain, require less staffing, and are fun for children and parents.

“Kids love them,” Cognetti said. “They are really, really fun, great exercise and parents don’t have to worry about drowning and some of the higher risks and stresses that come with pools.”

In Wilkes-Barre, the splash pad at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, which opened in 2012, is the only water recreation spot for children in the city.

“We don’t have a pool in the city of Wilkes-Barre, so this is really the only way people can come and beat the heat,” Mayor George Brown said.

Although not staffed, he said it still requires maintenance, which closes the splash pad periodically.

“We try to utilize it as much as possible and make sure that it’s available as much as possible,” Brown said.

Matthew Fedor, a member of the Sherwood Youth Association, which maintains the splash pad at Sherwood Park in Dunmore, said not having to staff it is a benefit. It is also safer for children.

“We really don’t have to have someone there because there’s no chance there’s going to be an accident,” he said.

Meanwhile, one of the oldest splash pads in the region won’t open this summer as it is getting an upgrade.

South Abington Twp. officials received a $269,000 grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources last year to put in a new splash pad at South Abington Park. The work includes a new walkway, playground, a shade feature on the splash pad’s edge, and new surface, equipment and water tank for the splash pad. Recreation Resource USA of Kennett Square is expected to start the project this summer, Township Manager JoAnn Pane said. Officials are calculating the final costs for the work.

Although the surface has been replaced since it opened in 2001, she said the splash pad’s mechanics haven’t been replaced since then.

“It’s a little overdue,” Pane said.

Since its opening, she said it has drawn people from around the Lackawanna County, becoming a gathering place for families.

“It’s more of a county park that’s basically run and maintained by South Abington Twp.,” Pane said.

Experts said splash pads can be designed to allow children of all ages and abilities to use them and for the water to be reused.

A report by The National Recreation and Park Association states many splash pads use either a recirculation system, where a series of tanks and pipes supply water, capture it, treat it and reuse it, or a spray-to-drain system, where water filters into the ground.

While both systems require maintenance, the report says they reduce overall water consumption.

Fewer swimming options

As more people turn to splash pads to beat the summer heat, across Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, there are fewer public outdoor swimming facilities.

There are just seven outdoor public swimming areas in Lackawanna County and six in Luzerne County, an analysis by the newspaper found.

Some of those pools are undergoing maintenance, while officials are exploring ways to open others.

In Scranton, crews are working on upgrades at the outdoor pools at Weston Park and Connell Park. City officials earmarked $4 million in American Rescue Plan money to replace the outdoor pool at Weston Field this summer and $1 million in American Rescue Plan funds to make repairs at Connell Park. Cognetti expects the new pool will be completed for next summer.

Lee Dillon, manager of Lackawanna State Park in North Abington Twp., expects the pool and splash pad at the park in North Abington Twp. will open this summer. The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources decided not to open them last year to replace the pool lining with advanced plaster. The pool and splash pad opened in 2016.

The Forty Fort Community Pool isn’t open this year and officials are exploring ways to reopen it, while officials in Black Creek Twp. applied for a grant to cover repairs at their pool, which was last open in 2019.

Mary Ann Moran-Savakinus, executive director of the Lackawanna Historical Society, isn’t surprised there are fewer swimming options available.

In years past, neighborhoods often had their own pools and people didn’t travel as much as they do now.

“There was a time where kids just had to find something in their own backyard to do, so it made more sense that the pools would be scattered around,” she said. “People are more mobile now. People go in their cars and go where they want to be and if that involves going somewhere else to swim, it’s easy.”