Friends of the Pool

Project Leaders: WENDY CARTER & KAREN HUWE

Friends of the Pool is a group of community members who banded together in 2015 to ensure the community pool received the necessary funding for repairs and remain open during the summer when city funds ran short. Currently Friends of the Pool is working with Waitsburg Park & Rec District and fundraising to build a new pool. Donate Today!

Join Friends of the Pool and Waitsburg Parks and Recreation District in brining a pool back to our community

New Waitsburg Pool is No. 1 Community Priority

In 2022, the city of Waitsburg decommissioned its 100-year-old pool because of structural damage it incurred. An architectural assessment found the pool’s structure, plumbing, and outbuildings had far exceeded their anticipated life expectancy and should be replaced. The pool was built in 1925, with significant renovations in the 1970s and mid-1990s. 

Despite community efforts to sustain the pool, its location and age were found to be undermining the pool’s structural integrity and the pool was closed.   

Waitsburg Parks and Rec District Steps Up To The Plate

The Waitsburg Parks and Recreation District subsequently surveyed district residents in 2022 and 2023 asking what its No. 1 priority should be. The community response was overwhelmingly consistent, “build a new pool.” 

As a result, Waitsburg Parks and Recreation, a junior taxing district of Walla Walla County, in partnership with the Friends of the Waitsburg Pool, Rural Youth Enrichment Services, city of Waitsburg, Waitsburg Commercial Club and the Walla Walla YMCA, rallied energetic volunteers and is tackling this 5-year project. 

Renderings of the Waitsburg pool by WMS Aquatics

Why A Community Pool is Important

Waitsburg residents, the late Dr. and Mrs. Roger Hevel, generously donated funds to pay for swimming lessons for all children in Waitsburg because of how dangerous it is for children to swim in the nearby Touchet River. Unfortunately, this community safety benefit is forfeited right now because our pool is closed. The city of Waitsburg has reimbursed part of the cost of pool passes for Waitsburg families at Prescott or Walla Walla pools. 

• The American Academy of Pediatrics reports drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4 and a top cause of teen deaths.

• Drownings in Washington exceed the national average and are highest for 15- to 24-year olds living in poverty.

• In the summer, we would like our children to spend time at the community pool because open bodies of water have hazards like dangerous currents, sudden drop-offs and debris.

• Over 90% of drowning deaths occur in rivers, wells, irrigation ditches, storage vessels and pools in low- and middle-income areas where travel distances for emergency care lead to more severe outcomes like disability or death.

• This health risk is mitigated with investment in community pools and water competency programs.   

Swimming lessons decrease drowning risk by up to 88%. Children who learn to swim build confidence, endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness; they maintain a healthy weight, improve heart and lung health, and reduce chronic disease. First Aid/CPR training helps area teens qualify as lifeguards and swim instructors, which supports the community’s social fabric and provides jobs in the community. The outcomes are improved skills and health, workforce development and a sustainable program that contributes to the town's economic resilience.  

Accomplishments So Far

• The Friends of the Waitsburg Pool has privately raised more than $90,000 as of summer 2025 to fund feasibility work and engineering of the project.

• The alternative pool site, to the north of the former pool facility, has been declared viable for construction by the Ardurra engineering group.

• WMS Aquatics has provided images of the pool project.

• The local YMCA has leant the expertise of its certified aquatics facility director and pool operator who are providing insight on pool features and their impact on future staff training and staffing. 

• The Parks and Rec district has applied for numerous grants to fund the pool project and will continue to do so throughout the project.  

Recent photos from the North Pool Site

Project Status

In June 2025, Waitsburg Parks and Recreation District announced it will place a levy option on the November 2025 ballot. The resolution approved by the commissioners is 60 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value and would generate about $130,000 in capital and later maintenance and operation revenue for the Waitsburg pool.

In March 2025, Ardurra, an engineering group from Spokane, completed a hydraulics flood study of the alternative north pool site and confirmed the north site is viable.

Feasibility study results from PBS Engineering and Environnmental in Walla Walla showed it was likely the community can build a new Waitsburg pool at the alternate site on the north side of the Touchet River, and the Waitsburg Parks and Recreation District voted unanimously to move forward in pursuing building on the north site at its Jan. 2, 2025, meeting. 

Fixing the former pool was not a wise move because the cost is similar to replacement - we would like a new pool to last us another 100 years. Flood plain issues are also a factor in this decision that the pool cannot be built in the current location. 

Building a pool up to code cannot occur if the site is in a flood plain, feasibility study results showed, and the current pool location and the alternate site to the west are both in the flood plain without realistic opportunities to remove them from the flood plain. The site to the north is also in the flood plain on FEMA’s map, but the engineer said it is possible to work through the FEMA procedure of the design and formal map revision process to make it a viable pool site.  

The topography on the north side of the river is higher than the south side. Through initial topographical survey, certified flood plain determination and hydraulic modeling of the Touchet River at the proposed north pool site, the professional team will make a better-informed recommendation on the site’s viability. 

Waitsburg Parks and Rec is working to build a new lap pool, approximately 4,190 square feet with water depth of 3-feet, 6-inches to 7 feet. It will have six lap lanes with starting platforms and a zero-entry, shallow water program area.

Construction cost of a new pool is estimated at $2.1 million to $2.5 million. 

The current cost proposal does not include replacement of the bathhouse/buildings, mechanical rooms, site work, excavation, site drainage, utilities, decks, walkways, landscaping, lighting and fences.

The levy amount will not cover the entire cost to build the pool, which the district aims to keep at less than $3 million, and the Friends of the Pool will continue to work relentlessly to privately fundraise, write grants and go after larger funding opportunities. 

With the results of the feasibility and hydraulic flood studies, images of the project and architectural engineering for the dressing rooms and mechanical room in hand, the next steps will be obtaining a flood plain certificate and determining real costs of construction. An approved levy by the voters in 2025 will also signal to the community it is willing to maintain and operate the pool in the long-term.

Thank you to our Executive Level Sponsors

Thank you to our Standard Level Sponsors

Become a project sponsor

Email Wendy Carter at WendyMCarter71@gmail.com to become a sponsor of this project.