Swimming pools as dual urban infrastructures: water resources pressure and heat-risk modulation under climate change in a Mediterranean context

Populated areas in the Mediterranean face increasing risk from climate change through the intensification of heatwaves and water scarcity, among other threats. In this context, swimming pools are increasingly relevant urban infrastructures: they can exacerbate water stress while also offering localized heat-risk reduction. This dual position remains poorly understood in urban risk assessments.

This contribution presents results from an ongoing research project in Andalusia, in southern Spain, combining spatial data integration, climate scenarios, and risk indicators to examine swimming pools as both drivers of water stress and elements of adaptive capacity.

A region-wide dataset of swimming pool locations is compiled from official open geospatial sources. With this inventory, first we assess how the proliferation of public and private swimming pools contributes to pressure on urban water resources, estimating their water demand and evaporative losses under current conditions, derived from observations from the regional agroclimatic network, and future climate scenarios. Future projections for Andalusia are taken from the datasets published by the Junta de Andalucía’s Consejería de Sostenibilidad, Medio Ambiente y Economía Azul, accessed via the SICMA portal (andalucia.sicma.red). We compare swimming pool–attributed water demand with total urban demand and with water availability reported in water management planning documents (river basin management plans) to map swimming pool–related water exploitation indices. This analysis makes it possible to investigate how pools intersect with urban water risk and to explore whether future warming and more severe drought conditions may intensify current pressures, especially across expanding urban and peri-urban zones.

Second, we explore the role of swimming pools in modulating heat-related hazard risk by acting as localized climatic refuges during extreme heat events. Using spatial indicators of hazard, exposure and vulnerability, we examine how access to pools can reduce heat risk for certain areas and population groups, while also revealing strong socio-spatial inequalities in adaptive capacity across cities and municipalities.

This work contributes to debates on urban adaptation trade-offs, governance, and equity by framing swimming pools within a risk–resilience perspective. It highlights the need to move beyond single-hazard approaches and to consider how urban infrastructures can simultaneously increase and reduce risk, where and for whom. The results are particularly relevant for cities in hot, water-scarce regions, where urban growth and climate extremes increasingly intersect.