The official start of summer is still more than a month away, but as all Houstonians know, Houston weather doesn’t strictly adhere to conventional seasons. Summer weather is sure to arrive well ahead of the summer solstice on June 21st and we’ll likely still be feeling the heat even after the official start of fall on September 23rd. We’re used to beating the heat by cranking up the AC, but Monte Large, Jeff Kaplan and Evan O’Neil have proposed an intriguing new way to deal with Houston summers, a huge swimming hole.

Large, Kaplan and O’Neil are the men behind the Houston Needs a Swimming Hole project which calls for a ten acre natural swimming pool in central Houston. Andrea White covered the project in an article for the Houston Chronicle last year when the idea was first beginning to pick up steam. Large remembers going to swim at the Shamrock Hotel pool when he was a kid. He recalls the massive size of the pool and the fond memories he has of it. O’Neil adds, “Shamrock’s legendary Texas-sized swimming pool was so large you could water-ski in it.” They feel that the city hasn’t had anything like it since the hotel closed. Austin’s Barton Springs Pool, the man-made recreational pool filled with water from Main Barton Spring, was a source of inspiration as well. Instead of just building a large pool, why not create a giant swimming hole filled with natural water?

Houston’s subtropical environment and the fact that the city has become a leader in the use of green technology made it obvious to Large and O’Neil that a natural swimming pool in the heart of the city makes sense. White explains how a “green” pool would work. “Managed properly, natural swimming pools have clear water and require no chemicals to maintain. Instead, they are self-cleaning: cattails, water lilies and other water plants serve as natural filters.” The 20,000 plus natural pools in Europe are a sign of the popularity natural pools can have. Minneapolis’ Webber Park Pool, the first natural pool in the United States, is a sign that a natural swimming pool can work in a big U.S. city. The project members see it as an opportunity to create, not only a wonderful social space for Houstonians, but also a place that people from outside the city will want to come visit.

Jared Monmouth, in an article for Houstonia, proposes that Large, O’Neil and Kaplan think even bigger. He takes an “everything’s bigger in Texas” sort of mindset. Houston has the largest medical center and largest rodeo so, if we’re going to have a swimming hole, he figures we should have the largest one of those as well. Monmouth looks at San Alfonso del Mar, the 19-acre pool on the Chilean coast, which is considered the largest of its kind in the world. He suggests going even bigger than that massive pool. The San Alfonso del Mar, though, cost around $1.5 billion.

Building a swimming hole with that price tag may be hard for Houstonians to get behind, but one the size Large and O’Neil have suggested, at around $8 million appears to be something the city can support. The team set a $30,000 goal to kickstart the project, and, with the support of various Houston civic leaders and organizations, they were able to reach it. That money is now being put to use for the feasibility study which is the first big step in making this ambitious idea come to fruition. Large recognizes that a lot of questions still need to be answered before they can move even further with the project, but they “are meeting with city and community stakeholders, environmental groups, landowners, management districts, researchers, and just about anyone who we can think of in order to help make this project happen.” Thinking of those 100 degree midsummer days, let’s hope they do make it happen.

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