The City of Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department has 27 aquatic facilities that offer various water-recreational activities within the aquatics system. Within that system, there are 10 outdoor pools, 14 spraygrounds, and 3 indoor pools.
Over time, the aquatics system has experienced challenges with lower cost recovery and low utilization at the facilities. Additionally, aging facilities causing increasing maintenance and operation costs, diminishing revenues, challenges with staffing enough lifeguards, and competing with more modern facilities in the area, all place additional strain on the aquatics system. For these reasons, the City of Kansas City Parks and Recreation Department commissioned an Aquatics Master Plan.