Residents in Rio Grande City who want to cool off in a public pool this summer are going to have to make the drive to a nearby town.

This has been a problem for years, and one resident wants something done and says the school district needs to act on it.

An empty pool at Fort Ringgold is run by Rio Grande Grulla Independent School District. Fort Ringgold is an old army fort with 150 years of history. It has three pools on the property, two of them are broken and one is unfinished.

The unfinished pool project started six years ago and has never been finished.

Resident and Starr County Historical Commission Board Member Ross Barrera believes the district has misplaced priorities. The pool was started under a different administration in 2017.

"People have to go out of town if they want to enjoy a pool," Ross said.

The closest pools to Rio Grande City are Roma and La Grulla. 

"We invested about $200,000 into the four filter water separators in the whole pool itself, and it's not being used," Ross said.

Ross says the existing pool would need $100,000 or $150,000 to finish the tiling, add a lifeguard station and changing room.

Across the campus at Fort Ringold, there are shells of two other pools. One, that was built in the 1970s, is now a construction zone.

The second is one of the earliest pool, up on a small hill. Ross says it lasted for decades.

The pool was build in 1926 by soldiers at the fort and was used until 2004, but now it sits broken with cracks on its sides.

RGCISD spokesperson Adrian Ozuna says the administration is focusing on capital improvements for other projects at this time, and the district is looking into the status of the pool.

In 2021 voters accepted a bond to bring in $20 million for new swimming complexes, which haven't been started.

"I think it would be beneficial for us to finish what we have," school board member Veronica Barrera said.

Veronica says the board needs to prioritize the most affordable fixes first.

"It could be put to use for a very low cost, instead of us having to wait a longer period of time and spending more money as a district," Veronica said.

For now, Rio Grande City is spending the summer without a pool.