Chicago is facing another dangerously hot weekend, as the city is changing up how much longer the public can head to the pools.<\/p>\n
Fifteen Chicago Park District pools will be closing by Sunday. However, 19 others will remain open through Labor Day<\/p>\n
Sabrina Balthazar is cooling off in the heat and doing it to a beat during water aerobics at Union Park pool in the West Loop.<\/p>\n
“The pools here in Chicago are such an absolute treasure,” she said. “Such a blessing that we have access as residents to pools like this in the city.”<\/p>\n
Word that the Chicago Park District will keep 19 pools open through Labor Day is welcome news for father of four, Johnathan Crape.<\/p>\n
“I like it. I think that’s good too because even though one is closing, it’s still more out there for us to enjoy as we wrap up the summer,” he said.<\/p>\n
With the summer heat in mind, for the first time, the Chicago Park District uses the Chicago Heat Vulnerability Index to identify pools in the system with a high heat risk. <\/p>\n
Nine of the 19 pools that will remain open through Labor Day are in communities with high heat risk.<\/p>\n
“So if there was a neighborhood that maybe, that’s high on the heat vulnerability index, we moved. We put the pool there instead of maybe the neighborhood next to them,” said Andy Walsh, manager of beaches and pools.<\/p>\n
Forty-two park district pools will be closing Sunday, Aug. 17. However, the 19 that will remain open are a 58 percent increase in the number of pools that remained open through Labor Day last year. <\/p>\n
“The real reason we’re able to stay open longer is we just got so much more staff this year and filled all of our positions, so more of them are able to stay on longer this season,” Walsh said.<\/p>\n
The 19 pools that will be scheduled to open include:<\/p>\n
Visitors should check each location’s schedule<\/a>\u00a0before heading to the pools.\u00a0<\/p>\n