When the new Carbondale Aquatic Center opens their doors in spring 2026, the Carbondale community will be able to enjoy one of the most environmentally sustainable municipal pools in Colorado, according to a Wednesday news release from the Carbondale Pool Fundraising Campaign. 

“The community will dive into more than a state-of-the-art swimming facility — they’ll be swimming in one of the most environmentally sustainable municipal pools in Colorado. It will be the first all-electric pool in the region powered by 100% renewable energy,” the release said.

By using a new 48kW rooftop solar panel system and revolutionary all-electric air-source heat pumps, the pool will be able to generate its heating and energy needs through renewable energy sources. They will rely solely on air-sourced heat pumps, something that Carbondale Parks and Recreation Director Eric Brendlinger said isn’t regularly seen throughout the state. 

“There’s some other air-source, heat pump technology being used in other pools around the state, but they all have gas boilers that are either the first or secondary line of defense as a backup,” he said. “We are really trusting the technology and are not going to be burning any gas on this property.”

The project, which will replace the 40-year-old pool on the corner of Seventh and Main Street in Carbondale, will feature three new pools — all of which will be heated with renewable energy —  a new bathhouse, and a community gathering space. According to Brendlinger, the above-and-beyond measures the construction project reached should be the archetype of similar projects in the future. 

“This is a facility built for the future,” he said. 

According to the release, the project will eliminate over 3.2 million kBTU (kilo British thermal units) of fossil fuel use annually. 

“That’s the equivalent of taking 148 gasoline-powered vehicles off the road for a year — or avoiding more than one million miles driven,” the release said.

The project that Brendlinger said will revolutionize public municipal pools’ total cost will reach over $13 million, and the town has found interesting financial backing to help make the dream come true. 

On top of the funding the construction project received from the Town of Carbondale reserve fund, bonds, grants from organizations like the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE), the Colorado Energy Office, Pitkin County Park Dedication Fees Fund, and the Garfield County Federal Mineral Lease District, they have also raised over $2 million through the town’s first municipal capital campaign — the “Lets Make a Splash” campaign. 

According to Brendlinger, the campaign, which will stop taking donations on Dec. 31, is just $500,000 from their goal of $2.5 million. He said that the shocking amount of community support just goes to show how much a municipal aquatic center means to the community — a community that notices when measures go above-and-beyond. 

He noted that the project could have been done shorter and cheaper, but that’s not what Carbondale stands for. 

“It tells me that the people of Carbondale and the Roaring Fork Valley — the people that are going to be users of this pool — really care about this project and are voting with their pocketbooks.

“They’re saying ‘We support this, and we want to see it happen, but we want to see it happen the right way.’ We want to make a facility for the future, a facility that’s sustainable and doing the right thing right now.”

The pool doesn’t currently have a direct opening date set, but Brendlinger promises the grand opening date in spring 2026 is going to be a day of celebration felt throughout the valley.
For more information about the project, visit carbondalerec.com/aqautics.