City Of Tulsa Opens Splash Pads, Encourages Physical Distancing

Since many pools are closed for the summer due to COVID-19, some parents are looking for other options for their kids as it starts to heat up.

The City of Tulsa Parks Department said they worked hard to get splash pads open, so kids had an option to get out and play in the water even though the pools were closed.

City of Tulsa Parks Director Anna America said "being cooped-up has really emphasized the importance of needing to get out, so we want to make sure all of our facilities are as open as we can make them."

There are 16 different splash pads across the City of Tulsa and 10 different water playgrounds.

The city is encouraging people to practice physical distancing while they are out at any of these facilities.

The CDC said they're not as concerned about surface transmission now, but they still want people to stay safe.

"Now, you have very limited touch surfaces in a splash pad; you're outdoors in the sunshine, so those are things they've said there's less transmission" said America.

There's also a way to reserve the water playgrounds for birthday parties or events for a fee, but Officials said once the water is on then it's open to the public.

The city said it would've been difficult to train lifeguards in a shortened amount of time this spring and to guarantee their safety; so, the city made the decision to keep the pools closed.

"Our pools and splash pads are expensive to maintain. With the declining revenue that the council is seeing because of COVID-19, the mayor and the city council made the decision to keep [the pools] closed this year" America stated.

The city also encourages people to use hand sanitizer before and after touching any of the equipment.

The water playgrounds and splash pads open at noon and close at 8 p.m.