A big thank you to the Enumclaw community for saving the pool.

I’m sure I said it at the time, but now, as Sumner struggles with a similar situation, I see it as a stroke of genius.

Pools are closing across the state and it’s not only killing the sport of swimming, but it’s preventing a generation of kids from learning to swim and learning water safety.

According to statistics from public health, drowning is the second-leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 14 years old in the United States. It is also the second-leading cause of unintentional injury death for children in Washington state. An average of 27 children and youth, under the age of 18, drown each year in Washington.

As a community filled with lakes and rivers, providing swim lessons would seem like a no-brainer.

I remember writing a story several years ago about an elementary school-aged Enumclaw girl who saved a boy from drowning. The family credited the lessons she learned in local swim classes for saving the young boy’s life and preventing further tragedy.

Swim lessons and learning to float and tread water are two key strategies to prevent drowning cited by public health.

No one will argue pools are money pits, but so are commercial buildings, homes, churches and schools. All facilities need upkeep, maintenance and TLC and the longer it’s put off the more expensive it becomes.

But pools can also be vibrant community centers that provide much-needed services, recreational opportunities, social gathering places and stopping points for outside visitors.

It doesn’t seem like it was nearly 10 years ago when the county wanted to shut down the Enumclaw pool and the city and its residents jumped in and made a splash. Thank you to those who spearheaded the attack by collecting signatures, visiting other communities, attending meetings and drumming up the support that saved our aquatic center. Thank you to the city for seeing its has value that isn’t measured in dollars. Thank you to those who live in the city limits, who took on the tax to help keep it running. Thank you to the folks outside the city, those from Buckley, Black Diamond and Bonney Lake, who are willing to pay the extra money to use the facility as nonresident members.

My family has been to the Enumclaw Aquatic Center for swim lessons, birthday parties and movie-night float-ins. My kids are there for swim team and water polo. My co-worker uses it for lap swim at the crack of dawn. I know folks who are there for physical therapy, home school physical education and water aerobics. My daughter can’t wait to become a lifeguard and get her first job at the pool as a swim instructor.

It’s refreshing to see our pool, daily, is bustling with activity from the infant-parent swim lessons to the senior citizens who come for lap swim.

Last year, the Enumclaw School District cut its elementary-school swim program. The district had offered swim lessons to all students for decades, but the program fell under the budget ax.

But now, thanks to a dedicated pool staff, elementary school teachers and the PTA, Kibler Elementary School is providing the program again for its second-grade students. It’s a small step. Each person involved in bringing the program back noted the importance of children learning water safety and feeling comfortable in and around the water as their motivation.

Swim lessons don’t guarantee lives will be saved, but it certainly helps.

Like Enumclaw, it will take more than a few folks wading in and getting their feet wet. The community will need to dive in and save the Sumner pool.