Swimming pools that do not receive support from the municipality or the national government are at a loss. Swimming school De Drie Bergen in Ulvenhout is also having a hard time. Owner Ellis van der Leest is close to despair: “Will my swimming school still exist in six months?”
De Drie Berken, in the middle of a residential area in Ulvenhout, was set up about forty years ago by Ellis’s parents. Since then, the small swimming school has been a household name in and outside the village. Even children from Belgium come to swimming lessons at De Drie Berken. Ellis took over the family business eleven years ago.
This month, Ellis received an energy bill of 6,000 euros, while a year ago she still had to pay 1,200 euros for gas and electricity. “In the past two months I lost as much energy as in the whole of 2021.”
“That pool is my whole life.”
She finds it hard to think that De Drie Berken would have to close. “This pool is my whole life. I don’t want to think about quitting at all. The idea of losing the pool is scary, it hurts me.”
This week, the House of Representatives rejected a motion to keep all swimming pools open. Recently, Minister Conny Helder of Long-term Care and Sport announced that 207 million euros will be made available to support public swimming pools.
Because De Drie Berken is a commercial swimming pool, it gets nothing out of that pot. The swimming pool also does not receive a subsidy from the municipality, which public swimming pools do receive.
“It’s just survival now.”
During the corona crisis, the swimming school also had a hard time. Ellis used her savings to keep the company afloat and continue to pay the staff. There was virtually no income. “With a swim school, I didn’t have anything to deliver or pick up like other companies had,” says Ellis. The repair of a faulty air handling unit also resulted in a bill of 10,000 euros in the middle of the pandemic.
So now Ellis not only has to contend with the consequences of the corona crisis, but also with the current energy crisis. “My accountant recently said to me: ‘It’s just survival now’.”
“There is simply no money to make it more sustainable.”
Ellis isn’t the only pool owner with concerns. In a tour of twenty small and medium-sized swimming pools in Brabant, a large majority say they are concerned about energy costs.
Thirteen swimming pools want to become more sustainable in order to reduce energy costs. This mainly concerns the installation of solar panels. A few swimming pools already heat the water with a heat pump, so without gas.
Although Ellis would love to make De Drie Berken sustainable, it is not that easy. “I simply don’t have the money for it. An exploratory visit already costs a thousand euros. I don’t have that money. Moreover, because the roof of the swimming pool can be opened, solar panels are not an option.”
Ellis is afraid to take out a loan. “I don’t know if my company will still be there in a few months, let alone if I can ever pay back that loan.”
Ellis isn’t just worried about her own pool. “I wonder what will eventually remain. It is about the safety of the children. They just have to be able to learn to swim, don’t they?”