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Beat the Heat: Dumpster Diving

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At the beginning of summer, there was talk of closing down some of Philadelphia’s public pools to save money. Well, up in New York, an innovative solution has popped up. All it requires is a little dumpster diving.

As part of that city’s third annual Summer Streets program, Park Avenue will be closed to cars on consecutive Saturdays (August 7, 14, and 21) so people can bike, walk, play, watch live theater and swim.

According to this Yahoo Green Picks blog post, dumpsters swimming pools are an integral part of the festivities. Why? Well for one, the designer, David Belt, thinks it’s “hilarious” to see people swimming in dumpsters in front of Grand Central. But, on a more practical note, they are far less expensive than public pools requiring permits and staff. They are also easy to transport, because, well, they’re dumpsters. Here’s a little detail on the pools:

Only 10 people can swim comfortably in a pool at a time.  Each 8-by-22 foot dumpster pool is surrounded by a wrap-around deck and has its own built-in water filtration system. Unfortunately, dumpster-diving is prohibited since the pools are only 3 to 4 ½ feet deep. Each unused dumpster has been equipped with a layer of felt (so it’s soft to stand on) and pool lining liners before being filled with around 4,600 gallons of chlorinated water and weighs approximately 50,000 pounds.

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