William H Rumsey Aquatic Center - Washington, District of Columbia

Tanaya M.

The experience was absolutely awful. When I visited over the weekend with my daughter, we were welcomed warmly by the front desk receptionist. However, upon entering the pool area, we found that the kiddie pool was closed. The manager, Kelsy Wood, informed us that the pool was closed due to staffing issues. When I asked when it would reopen, she responded in a verbally abusive manner, causing my eight-year-old to cry. She was exceptionally aggressive. I noticed another lifeguard in the booth and asked if he could open the pool since he seemed idle. Kelsy's customer service skills were dreadful. Her behavior was rude, unprofessional, and insulting. It's clear that she is not suitable for her position.

Orest S.

This DC public swimming pool offers an excellent space for lap swimming, with eight 25-yard lanes that cater well to swimmers of all levels. Residents are required to register beforehand, so be sure to plan ahead, as the registration process can take around two weeks.

The facility is clean, and while basic, it has everything you need, including lockers for personal items. Do remember to bring your own lock, as they are not provided. In terms of crowd levels, it’s usually not very busy in the early afternoon, making it a great time for a quieter swim.

Overall, it’s a solid option for DC residents looking for a place to swim laps.

Ashley W. L.

This is my community pool and certainly the only pool close to my home open year-round. But it fails me — and likely many others in the community — in two ways:

First, it has a toddler pool that is NEVER OPEN. Whether due to short-staffing or maintenance their toddler pool has not been open all year it seems; and my family goes to this pool often. This is a huge disappointment because it means my toddler daughter (under 2), who cannot yet swim, has to be in the big pool with larger kids who splash, jump and are sometimes rowdy. It’s not fun for her and it’s not fun for me. Particularly since there are often classes in the shallow end of the pool when we go and so we are pushed to a small corner of the pool. This also means I have to hold her because she obviously can’t be even in the shallow end of the main pool without my help. What kind of independence in water does that teach her? Why can’t the toddler pool ever be open? There are MANY families on Capitol Hill and this pool does not serve us or our children if the toddler pool remains closed. The city might as well just concrete it up and close it because it’s a false promise to families.

Secondly, the attitude of the staff is sometimes horrendous. They never seem to know anything about maintenance updates or timelines (like when the toddler pool will ever be open). And make false promises that the toddler pool will be open, and then I’ve come back when they tell me to and of course it wasn’t. Meanwhile, I have had bad interactions with staff who just flat out have a bad attitude. Example: I came for a recent swim in the early morning on a week day and half the pool was closed off for a class that only had three people in it. While I do swim laps, I like to do it leisurely and usually the people in the lanes are intimidating so I’ll swim just outside the outside lane in the main pool area. This morning that area was closed and when I asked why, a I got a snarky response from the lifeguard. When I pointed out that there was nearly no one there for the class and to close off that whole half of the pool wasn’t efficient, the lifeguard proceeded to tell me he “would kick me out of the whole pool” if I wanted. I dropped the interaction there and got in a lane to swim. However the lifeguard continued — another couple of minutes — to pace the side of the pool, shouting at me: commenting about my attitude and continuing to threaten to kick me out. It was so loud and carried on for so long that the woman I was sharing a lane with commented. That our small poolside interaction escalated into a public spectacle completely baffled me and left me embarrassed for that lifeguard. Please get the staff some training on how to deal with people because it’s not a pleasant experience visiting my tax-payer-funded, community pool and having to deal with stuff like that.

Ali S.

Fantastic pool, especially for DC residents! I have been using this pool for lap swim three+ times per week in the evenings. The other swimmers are respectful, the lifeguard is attentive, and the place has a neighborhood/community feel to it. The woman who works at the front desk in the evenings is always friendly. The pool is kept a little warmer than most indoor pools (I would prefer it cooler), but otherwise it's great.

Axel P.

Thank you so much for this on point report on corruption rampant in this city whether white is expelled or not. Case in point Rumsay aquatic center a much beloved neighborhood pool , a bsutiful, sunfilled landmark, the first integrated pool in DC ,in perfectly adequate shape except for a few signs of old age nobody cares about is a target of a vanity project/ political steppingstone by Charles Allen and Muriel Bowser et al ( contractors w wads of cash?)close to $40 million planned to destroy this beloved pool for God knows how many years if ever, and replacing it with a multi story money pit ,a senior center nobody wants or needs a tech hub, so-called, each Wasted floor represents a prospective constituency they seek to court !These politicians plan to sucker punch us with this unwanted , unneeded vanity project/ political steppingstone.. The Plaza in front of the current pool is sunny most of the day with many metal benches and is the heart of eastern market where food vendors come, and families Enjoy the sun.,The birds the benches on the open plaza. This will all be destroyed , all of it replaced with gentrified storefronts.are you kidding? Have you walked down Pennsylvania Avenue and seeing how much unleasedspace is there still ?our group has hired an attorney to stop this massive waste when so many other pressing priorities are not being funded and could be with this $40 million atrocity. We will fight corruption in this city ! Join us, and thank you Mark Fisher. Protest this sham project dec19 6:30pm eastern market mtg hall.

Samia K.

We’ve been to almost every pools in SE and this is absolutely the worst one. It is horribly kept and managed. Facilities are gross. There’s a kiddie pool I’ve never seen open in the last five years. The small space for open swim is manageable. But this is the only pool where we’ve encountered dpr employees and managers who are horrible and verbally abusive. I don’t know who hurt them in life but they will take it all out on you. Life guards and the front desk person are usually lovely. We only go for classes or league if it’s the last resort, never for recreation anymore. The dpr pools on the east side of the river are so much more pleasant.

Dacia T.

You’re only going to have a good experience if you can actually swim 😅. Going to this pool I realized my people have to do better! If I were by myself I would have been in the deep end where it was peaceful. But since I brought my youngest I wanted her to be able to enjoy herself so I let her play in the shallow end. Where it was filled with mostly teens to adult non-swimmers. The shallow end was super crowded a lot of rough housing while the little kids seemed to be fighting for survival just to enjoy themselves. The nerve these people had to be rough housing and playing in bathtub level water 😂😂…Overall, the locker rooms were cleaned to the average standard. The pool water was clean the life guards did their best to control the rough housing and its convenient to eastern market. Just be careful bringing your little ones here because for now they designate everyone to use the shallow end I think the kiddie area is closed still.

MARSHA B.

The YMCA Water Aerobic class there is great. The instructor is wonderful. Because she changes up each session, it is never a boring class. Highly recommended!