Houston Needs A Swimming Hole (Austin, Galveston: apartments, houses, good schools)

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by cBach

Here is the Orthlieb pool, 2nd largest in the world. It is in Casablanca Morocco. The water is not perfectly "clear" here in the Atlantic Ocean and you can see tons of pools along the coast here. This is basically what Galveston would need to do. Not cheap, but hey other towns have done it in countries that are a lot poorer than us...

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.5971.../data=!3m1!1e3

It's not about how rich or poor the "town" or the "country" is (because no way do I want a pool subsidized by taxpayers) but about whether it can be built by a private company, using US labor and material and operating costs, for an amount that would allow them to be profitable based on an admission rate and customer count that the marketplace will support. I'm all for hearing any provate proposals. If it is feasible, why hasn't Moody or Fertitta tried it?

[westhou]

Originally Posted by earthisle

People swim in the rivers in Austin. Why not Houston?

I guess that's fine if you want to swim in the waste flowing in from Dallas.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by westhou

I guess that's fine if you want to swim in the waste flowing in from Dallas.

The rivers in Austin come from cold springs in the earth, naturally filtered.

The rivers in Houston come from Dallas and drainage ditches.

Any swimming hole in Houston will have to be man-made.

The suggestion for Galveston is probably best, although these resort pools could be built along Buffalo Bayou as well I presume. It's just Galveston has the infrastructure like the Pleasure Pier, etc...

Having an old industrial plant or a freeway overpass isn't the most scenic place to go swimming to be truthful. The atmosphere in Galveston is nice. If it had water like Florida it would be another Miami Beach.

[cBach]

Casablanca basically found an area where the natural coastline supported it. If you look at Galveston, the coast is straight except for this one area. This is where they need to put it:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ga...!4d-94.7976958

Basically build a wall in the sea from the edge of Seawolf Park west until it hits the land. Fill in the bottom with concrete with a slope that is exactly the same as the slope of the land. Then, filter/chlorinate all the water in it and use the ocean as a source so you don't have to waste freshwater.

Fill the beach areas with around 1-2 feet of white sand imported from the Panhandle of Florida so kids will have white sand to play with.

Texas A&M Galveston students would love such an attraction nearby, the campus could run shuttle buses to it. I think it could be profitable just from that. Also, run shuttle buses from the cruise lines to there.

[oceangaia]

Morocco probably didn't have to conduct millions of dollars and years of environmental studies or clear endless regulatory hurdles.

[cBach]

If Galveston did this, it would be a gigantic tourist attraction.

[texas7]

Because an enclosed, giant pool full of water and urine from thousands of people and babies in diapers is so appealing -- because it's a beautiful, blue color.

[OneBeachBum]

Originally Posted by cBach

The atmosphere in Galveston is nice. If it had water like Florida it would be another Miami Beach.

Theoretically, with the economic climate in Houston and relatively cheap cost of living (compared with other cities of its size) if Galveston had water like Florida beaches (or even Mexico) the population would explode (think Los Angeles-ish) the cost of living would skyrocket, and it wouldn't be the same anymore.

That said, I agree 100%.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by texas7

Because an enclosed, giant pool full of water and urine from thousands of people and babies in diapers is so appealing -- because it's a beautiful, blue color.

The water would be filtered and chlorinated just like any other pool and it would be so much larger than other pools so the percentage of pee in it wrt the volume of the pool would be miniscule. The challenge would be paying the electricity for the pumps and the cost for the chlorine. I'm assuming admission could be charged though, like $10 a car which is what they charge at parks around Austin. Could recoup costs there.

[houstmom]

I went to a gorgeous swimming hole 20 years ago in the Memorial Villages area, perhaps near Sandalwood neighborhood. It was probably a private swimming hole just for residents of the neighborhood though.