Travelling swimming pool delivers aquatic fun to French villages

The entire facility is located in the interior of a truck

The French Department of Bouches-du-Rhône is the originator of a creative idea to provide swimming lesson opportunities to rural residents – dispatch a travelling truck that has an entire swimming pool on its board. The initiative was first launched in 2022 and at the start of this week, the truck is back on the circuit delivering aquatic opportunities to people from the countryside.

The territory of the department covers the rural areas between Marseille and Avignon in the south of France, thus it can be said that its residents have easy access to the Mediterranean beaches in the summer.

The department’s administration launched the mobile pool project as part of the National Drowning Prevention Plan and it’s a way to counteract the increasing number of these fatalities, especially among young children.

How does the swimming pool truck work?

The swimming pool truck travels to allow residents of communities far from municipal or metropolitan swimming pools to benefit from the benefits of swimming. The interior pool itself is equipped with a wave breaker, and its water is heated to 29°C. The pool measures 8 metres long and 2 metres wide and has a movable bottom, which can vary the depth from 0 to 1.20 metres in order to adapt it for educational requirements.

And education is indeed the primary aim of the pool. The pool targets different disadvantaged audiences: school students, seniors, parents with babies and people with disabilities, all united by a common goal – learning how to swim and/or overcoming aquaphobia.

The current itinerary of the swimming pool truck includes stopping at Penne-sur-Huveaune until 8 March before moving on to the town of Paradou from 18 March to 12 April 2024.

Children who complete a two-week swimming course, which involves 8 sessions, receive a diploma.