Washtenaw County, Michigan
Every kid in Washtenaw learns to swim.
We're neighbors working to build a year-round aquatics center in Washtenaw County — a building where a four-year-old takes a first lesson in the morning and a championship gets decided in the afternoon.
Washtenaw County is about to lose the only pool here that can host a state championship.
On August 14, 2026, Eastern Michigan University announced that Jones Natatorium in Ypsilanti will close on May 9, 2027, after more than forty years. Renovating it would cost $19.2–$21.5 million and take 18–24 months; replacing it would cost $30–$33 million. EMU called continued operation “financially unsustainable beyond 2027.” Without another NCAA-compliant pool, the university's women's swimming and diving program would likely be discontinued.
EMU's president, Brendan Kelly, on finding a replacement venue nearby: “We have not been able to identify one in the region at this point. That is the most heartbreaking part of this entire situation.”
#1
Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1–4 in the United States.
CDC Vital Signs, May 2024
54.7%
of American adults have never taken a swimming lesson. Nearly 40 million can't swim at all.
CDC Vital Signs, May 2024
1,220
public beaches in Michigan. Only a small fraction have a lifeguard — the state parks cut theirs by 1991.
Bridge Michigan
Why one regional center
Washtenaw County already has pools. What it lacks is enough year-round water to serve all the people asking to use them.
School pools are primarily built around school schedules. University pools serve university programs first. Municipal pools balance lessons, recreation and lap swimming. Clubs rent whatever lane time remains. Each of those is a reasonable way to run a pool, and together they leave almost no slack — so when one pool closes or one program grows, there is very little capacity anywhere else to absorb it.
A regional aquatics center could bring those needs together instead of forcing them to compete for the same limited water: dedicated space for lessons and community programs, alongside enough flexible water for schools, clubs and major events.
What we're working toward
Five different needs. One shrinking supply of water.
Here is who is drawing on that water. Not one of these needs is unreasonable, and meeting any one of them today usually means squeezing another.
Teaching
Warm water
A first lesson needs water warm enough for a child who is standing still and frightened. Racing water is deliberately cold. These cannot be the same pool, and when they are forced to share one, the lesson is what moves.
Recreation and therapy
Accessible water
Shallow, warm, easy to get into, and open at hours ordinary people are free. This is the water a new knee, an arthritic shoulder or a seventy-year-old lap swimmer needs, and it is the hardest kind to find in this county.
Schools
Lanes
Districts need reliable, affordable lane time for physical education, for swim and dive teams, and for water safety instruction. Ann Arbor's middle schools no longer have a pool to use, and a district without water of its own has to rent someone else's.
Clubs
Training space
Year-round programs need consistent practice water at hours families can actually make. This is the need we hear about most from the coaches we've talked to, and the one we most want to document properly rather than assert.
Competition
A regional venue
High school, college and club championships need a facility built to the standard the sport actually uses, and room for the people who come to watch. Once Jones Natatorium closes in May 2027, the county's only 50-meter pool belongs to Michigan Athletics — and at roughly 1,200 seats it is too small for a high school or club state meet.
So they stop competing
A regional aquatics center gives each of these its own water under one roof. Not one bigger pool — separate pools, sized and heated for different jobs, so a championship weekend can't cancel a month of lessons and a school team can't lose its lane to a rental.
Status
Where this actually stands
Early. We want to be straight about that. There is no site, no budget, no approved plan, and no money raised. There is a group of people who think this county needs a pool and are willing to do the unglamorous work of finding out whether it can happen.
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Steering committee forms
2024After the school board votes to close the middle school pools, swim families who had been talking since the pandemic start meeting properly.
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EMU announces the natatorium closure
August 2026The county's loss of competition water stops being hypothetical.
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Building the case and the list
We are hereGathering supporters, mapping who already runs water programs in the county, and deciding what organizational form this should take.
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Formal organization
NextIncorporate, seek 501(c)(3) status or a fiscal sponsor, and put a real board in place. Only then can we accept tax-deductible gifts.
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Feasibility study
After thatA professional study of demand, site options, construction cost, and annual operating cost. This is the document that tells us whether to keep going.
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Site, funding, and partners
LaterOnly worth describing once the study says something.
How it's meant to work
Events can strengthen the operating model.
Regional and national meets can generate facility revenue while bringing visitors and spending into the county. They won't make a center self-supporting, but they can help make fuller use of a facility whose primary purpose is serving the community year-round.
For scale: the Greensboro Aquatic Center in North Carolina — an eight-lane, 50-meter facility built for about $19 million in 2011 — is reported to have generated more than $130 million in economic impact for its region, and still runs roughly a $350,000 annual operating deficit on a $1.5 million budget.
Establishing whether a sustainable operating model exists here is one of the central questions a feasibility study would need to answer.
The most useful thing you can do today is be counted.
We can't walk into a township meeting, a school board, or a foundation office and say “people want this” without being able to show them who. Adding your name takes a minute and costs nothing.