May 13, 2026: Collaboration over competition

Greetings,

Each week I use the start of the newsletter to talk about something that's interesting to me, and this week is no different, but I have two smaller items rather than one big topic.

(1) I had an interaction this week that really highlighted to me that I am unequivocally about collaboration over competition. Rising tides lift all boats, regardless of size, in both personal & professional settings.

I reached out to someone (I'm being intentionally vague here) I'll call Person A whom I've supported professionally in the past - both for free and with financial compensation due to a CPO class registration - to request information about their unique aquatic facility to share with Person B, someone who is interested in building a similar unique facility. I disclosed to Person A that the information would go to Person B. I am not being compensated by Person B, I just like to help out when people ask "do you know anyone doing..." and Person A said no - "it's competition."

Person A is not wrong: Person B's pool will be competition...when (if?) it's built in 1-2 years at least 40+km away. Person A obviously has the right to say no to any request (I always thank Eileen Kwan, a consultant from one of my municipal pool jobs, who taught the leadership team that every single conversation, email, customer interaction is always a transaction to either accept, decline or propose/negotiate what's been offered to us), but I am still flabbergasted that I so misread this person's willingness (or not) to be part of a swimming pool industry that wants to keep users safe.

I'm not naive - I've met very fussy business owners who think they invented the service/product they're offering - but I don't keep those people in my sphere. (Also, for the record, working under a Non-Disclosure Agreement or specific request for privacy is a completely different conversation.)

(2) I really do hate to keep bringing up Emilie Kiser - no one should have to share or justify their grief - but the communication she is currently doing about her son's preventable drowning is industry changing. (This article links her recent TikTok and provides a summary for those who choose not to use TikTok.)

Reading back over what I said last year, I think I was completely wrong: this woman will make this incident her life's work. I genuinely believe in 20 years we may be talking about how Emilie Kiser changed water safety education & non-fatal drowning advocacy, no different from a pioneer like Candance Lightner who founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and changed the behaviors of a generation. According to Social Blade, Emilie Kiser is 347th in importance on TikTok (with others), meaning she's reaching millions of people with her daily content and advocacy.

May is Water Safety Month! If you haven't put together any programming so far, you're not alone! Check out the NDPA's excellent Water Safety Season Toolkit, free to download from the main page of their website.

Here's the aquatic industry news I've been reading over the last 10 days. Note: some of these articles should have been included in last week's newsletter, but were saved in the wrong place.

Grand Prairie cancels Muslim event at water park under pressure from Gov. Abbott

Annapolis Valley swimming pool may not open this summer after recent break-in
New fear unlocked: copper theft hits swimming pools.

The No-Bid Contract That Is Turning Washington’s Reflecting Pool Blue
Including a quote from my colleague Tim at the Aquatic Council.

Trump touts 'American Flag Blue' paint job on Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
It looks like it will be a very dark blue.

Icelanders Love Their Pools. Just Don’t Tell the Tourists.

The municipal swimming pool in Trois-Mares is closed to the public following acts of vandalism.
Autodubbing is available, but any pool operator can watch this French news clip and understand how catastrophic it was to have people break into the pool overnight and drain a bunch of water in a way that could have killed elements of the circulation system.

How a 7-year-old in my swim class shifted my perspective on accessibility

RI's Yawgoo Valley Water Park permanently closes ahead of 2026 season

After hitting a snag, Perfect Day Mexico work resumes

How to Know What (and Who) Is Actually Worth Your Time
While recently dealing with someone who was completely non-responsive to the common courtesy of business emails, I found this article helpful.

Birch Bay Waterslides won’t open in 2026
Some of you might remember serious injuries occurred in 2023 under different leadership.

Public Health Investigating Legionnaires’ disease at Ritz-Carlton, Bachelor Gulch

Flatwoods, Kentucky, prepares for a summer without its pool
When there are cold freezes in regions where pools are not closed with full winterization, the damage can be catastrophic.

The Land of Legends: “Dragonfly Tower” Sets New Standards
This is not just a press release: Julian & Luca from TubeRides were just at this property and the slides look amazing (see Instagram or YouTube) .

Faces of Carbon Monoxide: No Life Guard on Duty — Four Hospitalized by CO Poisoning in Hotel Pool Area
This is not a recent incident, but it came up in the course of something I was working on, and is indicative of what I often seen in swimming pool mechanical rooms.

"According to Minnesota state law at the time of the incident, all new buildings considered to be dwellings were only required to have carbon monoxide detectors installed within ten feet of sleeping areas. Despite the presence of a CO-producing heater, CO detectors were not required in the pool area, and were therefore not installed...The incident is one of many caused by an inconsistent patchwork of requirements and codes across states in the U.S., which has led nearly half of Americans to falsely believe they are protected in public places. " (emphasis added)

Minneapolis high school swimmer invents device that detects harmful pool chemicals

Pima County, Tucson Medical Center offer reduced-cost swim lessons
"The partnership means that every swim class, which covers eight lessons over two weeks, will be reduced from $20 to $5."

Salvador Perez Pool to stay closed indefinitely due to aging and unsafe infrastructure
The aging infrastructure crisis of community pools & recreation centers continues.

Introducing the Aboveground Pool Coalition
Long overdue! Lots of kids manage to climb up into aboveground pools, and the operational challenges are pretty different from in-ground pools.

Tempe to pay $150K to settle lawsuit over drowning death
"The family accused Tempe officials of negligently failing to properly train employees to respond to water rescues at the lake. The complaint also highlighted multiple drownings at Tempe Town Lake over the past decade."

World's largest rubber duck used for drowning awareness

Was Austin’s Barton Springs sacred to Indigenous people before Europeans showed up?

Bradenton mother charged after 4-year-old drowns at pool party: BPD
I've said it before, but I'll said it again: I don't love when parents are charged in the drowning fatality of a child, but I wonder here if the child who drowned was the birthday party guest? Very similar to this famous lifeguard training video.

WARNING: Two Pool Drain Cover Recalls in One Week Raise Serious Entrapment and Drowning Concerns
It is scary how "realistic" these fake dupes look from a distance; a non-technical person could easily mistake them for brand name, VGBA-approved covers when they most definitely are NOT.

Due to the May 25-28 CPO Class selling out, we've added a CPO Fusion class on Thursday, June 11. Registration for the June 22-25 CPO Class is also ongoing.

Thanks for being here & happy long weekend to my Canadian poolies!

Katie Crysdale
Lakeview Aquatic Consultants Ltd.

PS. The audio for last week's newsletter is available here.