Yeah, if "around here" means what I think it does, three people died recently doing just that because they hadn't learned how to swim properly. And while you can learn to do some basic swimming in a lake or a river, it's a lot easier to teach and learn it in a pool.
But nobody wants to go to public pools, given the option. With a public pool available, those people probably would have done the same thing. Nobody with a choice is going to a public pool.
