Hialeah pool closures depart water polo, swim groups scrambling earlier than competitions

All of Hialeah’s public pools are closed. The competitions are not.

Residents are concerned about what the closures mean for the children and athletes who depend on the city’s pools to train, compete and stay active.

A water polo tournament is scheduled for September, while a synchronized swimming team has just begun a new competitive season. The swim teams and classes served dozens of children daily at Hialeah aquatics facilities until Hialeah Mayor Bryan Calvo ordered the city’s three remaining public pools closed weeks ago.

Now, parents are scrambling to find alternatives while wondering whether their children will be able to train in time for upcoming competitions.

Hialeah has seven public aquatic facilities, but only three — McDonald Water Park, Milander Aquatic Center and Babcock Park Pool — were open when Calvo ordered them closed. A fourth facility, Bucky Dent Water Park, had reopened without a valid permit before the Florida Department of Health inspected it following a medical emergency and a subsequent complaint, ultimately shutting it down after finding multiple violations.

For families, the pools are more than places to swim. They are where children build discipline, friendships and confidence, and where athletes prepare for competitions.

Water polo faces a deadline

The issue for water polo teams is not simply finding somewhere to swim. Athletes need adequate training time and facilities before competition.

The Hialeah Storm Water Polo Club has been part of the city’s aquatic history for more than two decades. Founded in 2000, the program eventually registered with USA Water Polo and grew into a competitive program that has sent athletes to national-level opportunities.

Giselle Lowry has two sons who play water polo: Luca, 12, and Kyle, 10. She also has a daughter, Melanie, 9, who practices synchronized swimming at Milander Aquatic Center.

Luca and Kyle Prieto are scheduled to compete in a water polo tournament in Boca Raton in September, she said.

“They’re going to take away the only entertainment my children have,” Lowry said.

She said she is particularly concerned about the upcoming tournament, and whether the kids will be able to train properly before then, especially after her family has already paid the annual membership, insurance and monthly fees and purchased swimsuits and other equipment.

Lowry said sports give children structure and help them develop skills that extend beyond competition.

“I feel very bad,” Lowry said. “Sports are fundamental for children. It helps them stay focused and develop so many skills, reflexes, socializing with other teammates and teamwork.”

She also praised the Hialeah water polo program, describing it as competitive and high-level, with experienced coaches.

“Hialeah has a very beautiful program. These are kids with a lot of talent,” Lowry said. “They are incredibly competitive and high-performance, with excellent coaches. ”

Loss is personal

Maria Jose Cordovez, whose 8-year-old daughter, Laura Puig, has practiced synchronized swimming at Milander for the past nine months, said the closure has left families like hers without a clear alternative.

Swimming has become an important part of Laura’s life, Cordovez said. Since she began swimming in Hialeah, her daughter’s attitude has improved, she has learned about teamwork and has strengthened her Spanish language skills through the program.

“There is discomfort. This is a political problem,” Cordovez said. “The city is taking away a place for kids to train and exercise.”

Cordovez questioned whether the city had acted too broadly by closing every public pool in Hialeah after the Florida Department of Health singled out Bucky Dent Water Park and shut it down following an inspection that documented 34 violations.

Among the violations were serious water-quality and equipment problems. Inspectors found one pool with zero free chlorine and another with a pH of 10, above the state’s maximum allowable level of 7.8. Inspectors also cited missing screws on drain covers, a known entrapment hazard, and equipment that had been modified without state approval.

Cordovez questioned why problems at Bucky Dent led to the closure of Milander when no violations had been found at the facility.

“It strikes me as a political issue, because there really isn’t a need to close the other pools,” Cordovez said. “Focus on the one that’s problematic, and then, if you’re concerned about the others, look into them one by one.”

Milander Aquatic Center was last inspected by the Florida Department of Health in January and received a satisfactory rating with no violations. Yet the city later closed it along with the remaining pools, saying in a statement it was doing so “out of an abundance of caution.”

McDonald Water Park was inspected in May and received satisfactory ratings for its splash pad and lazy river, while the wave pool was rated unsatisfactory for an equipment change made without prior notification to the state. Babcock Park Pool received an unsatisfactory rating in January for a similar equipment violation. Neither were shut down by the state over those violations, as Bucky Dent was three weeks ago.

Cordovez said families may not wait indefinitely for the city to reopen the pools.

“I think a lot of people won’t wait around,” she said. “If there’s no news by next week, a lot of folks will decide to go elsewhere and look into other options.”

For some families, however, the impact of the closures goes beyond finding another place to swim. Malena Torres, whose 10-year-old granddaughter, Jennifer Torres, has been swimming for two years, said the closure has affected the young swimmer emotionally.

Torres drives Jennifer to practice every day and has watched her develop close friendships with her teammates.

“She feels a little down about it,” Torres said. “She goes every day, and she has her teammates there. They have built a really nice group together, so she has been a little discouraged.”

Torres said Jennifer’s team has also had considerable success in competitions, regularly finishing in first place and earning gold medals.

“They have always done well in their competitions — first place, gold medals. They have been super successful on this team,” Torres said. “This news has been very impactful. We don’t know when it will reopen, why this happened or what the situation will be.”

The team finished its competitive season in June at the Sunshine State Games in Ocala, where the Novice category won first place and earned the high-point award. The team competed in more than six meets throughout Florida during the season and finished among the top places.

Seniors search for alternatives

The impact extends to older swimmers as well.

Theo Karantsalis, 65, a former lifeguard, competitive swimmer and U.S. Masters swim coach, said swimming is one of the few forms of exercise he can still manage.

“Hialeah made that nearly impossible,” Karantsalis said. He has experienced physical decline from multiple sclerosis, he said, and he uses a walker.

Karantsalis said the pool closures have forced older swimmers to look for alternatives outside Hialeah. He said swimmers traveled to Miami Springs and Doral now that the city’s pools are no longer available.

“The consequences fall the hardest on locals with the fewest alternatives,” Karantsalis said.

He also questioned the city’s oversight following the Bucky Dent shutdown.

“I appreciate the caution,” Karantsalis said. “I question why it took a near-drowning and a newspaper investigation to produce it.”

He said the issue goes beyond one pool: “This is not a chemistry problem. It is an oversight problem.”

Beyond Hialeah residents

The impact extends beyond individual swimmers and families whose children compete.

Milander Aquatic Center has become a hub for aquatic programs in the area, drawing swimmers, families, schools and athletes from Miami Springs, Hialeah Gardens and other parts of Miami-Dade County.

On a typical day, between 60 and 70 children participate in swim teams at Milander Aquatic Center and Babcock Park Pool, while more than 10 seniors use the pools in the mornings. Another 20 children and adults take swimming lessons each day.

Six Hialeah schools also use Milander for swim practices.

McDonald Water Park draws much larger crowds on weekends. From spring break through the end of September, the park gets as many as 800 visitors on a weekend.

Alternatives come with challenges

The city has begun working on temporary locations for the affected aquatic programs.

In an update sent to swimmers, city officials said Miami Dade College’s North Campus may be able to accommodate the programs “to the greatest extent possible,” while remaining programs could be relocated to Palm Springs North and the City of Miami Springs.

The city said it was awaiting final approval and confirmation from all three locations and was exploring transportation options to make the transition easier for athletes and their families.

But the proposed alternatives present challenges of their own.

Miami Dade College’s North Campus has availability from 3 to 5 p.m., a window that conflicts with school hours for many children and work schedules for their parents. Miami Springs, meanwhile, may be too shallow for some aquatic programs, particularly water polo, which requires a deeper pool for training.

Following questions about the closures, the city said in a statement to the Herald that safety is paramount:

“The mayor ordered the temporary closure of the affected pools while the city completes an independent safety evaluation of its aquatic facilities,” the statement said. “We understand this impacts swim team practices. Parks staff and the mayor met with affected parents to discuss those impacts and are working to identify alternative practice locations while the review is completed. Public safety comes first, and the pools will remain closed until the city is satisfied they can safely reopen.”

This story was initially revealed August 22, 2026 at 5:30 AM.