Thousands of swimming pools across Central Texas may be slowly breaking apart from the inside, creating a costly problem that experts say could leave homeowners, neighborhood associations, builders, and insurers arguing over billions of dollars in damage.
KXAN investigator Arezow Doost reported that the Austin area has become a national hot spot for alkali-silica reaction, or ASR, a concrete defect commonly called “concrete cancer.” Industry professionals estimate that as many as 30,000 pools may be affected, particularly those constructed from 2017 onward.
The reaction can produce spiderweb-like cracks that spread through a pool shell until it can no longer hold water. For some communities, the first clear sign of trouble is not a small repair bill, but a drained pool sitting empty through the hottest part of the Texas summer.
A Community Pool Becomes an Empty Hole
Brett Lagrone had expected to spend summer afternoons with his two young daughters at the Carlson Place community pool in eastern Georgetown, where families normally gathered to cool off and socialize.
“This place in the summer would be hopping,” Lagrone told KXAN. “Today, we can hear the birds chirping.”
The pool was drained during the previous winter and never refilled. Lagrone said the homeowners association, which is managed by Goodwin & Company, told residents that major cracks in the structure were caused by concrete cancer.
“You got major cracks along this far wall right here,” he said while showing the damage to Doost. “It’s disappointing.”
Lagrone remembered community pools as an important part of his own childhood and wanted his daughters to have the same experience. Instead, the neighborhood now has what he described as a large hole in the ground, with no clear date for when it will reopen.
The loss may sound minor beside the financial damage, but shared pools often serve as the center of newer neighborhoods filled with young families. When one becomes unusable, residents lose both an amenity they paid for and a gathering place that helped make the community feel connected.
How Concrete Cancer Destroys a Pool
ASR occurs when certain minerals in rocks and sand react with cement inside concrete. The reaction creates a gel that absorbs water, expands, and pushes outward until the concrete begins cracking from within.
Those cracks may first appear as thin lines across the surface, but the damage can continue spreading. Eventually, the pool shell may become unable to contain water safely.
John McIntyre, a licensed engineer and ASR educator, told KXAN that there is no permanent repair once a pool develops the defect. He said the only true solution is to tear out the damaged structure and build another one.
Replacement costs may range from about $150,000 to $500,000 for each pool, depending on its size and the work involved.
If the estimate of 30,000 affected pools is even close to accurate, the possible cost reaches into the billions of dollars. That scale turns what might appear to be a construction problem into a much wider financial threat for homeowners, neighborhood associations, developers, and concrete suppliers.
McIntyre said the reaction can take between two and five years to become visible, which may explain why many pools built during the late 2010s are only now showing serious damage. It often appears first in a spa, where repeated temperature changes can place additional stress on the concrete.
Shortage of a Key Concrete Ingredient
McIntyre said some of the affected pools may have been built with concrete mixtures that lacked enough fly ash, a cement-like material created as a byproduct when coal is burned.
Fly ash can help reduce the chemical reaction that causes ASR, but supplies became harder and more expensive to obtain as coal-fired power plants declined and more facilities switched to natural gas. At the same time, pool construction increased rapidly across Central Texas.
Juanjose Armenta-Aguirre, president of the Central Texas Pool & Hot Tub Alliance, said the state now has only one producer of the needed class of fly ash, compared with several dozen in earlier years.
“And so, the cost of fly ash is very expensive,” Armenta-Aguirre said.
He works with McIntyre through the industry alliance and has pushed for more testing and education about ASR. His family also owns Texan Gunite, a company specializing in concrete used for residential and commercial pools.
Armenta-Aguirre said his company had not experienced a known ASR case, which he attributed to buying non-reactive sand from a different source and testing it regularly.
“We’re pretty transparent,” he said. “Here’s our testing; we do it once a year for our sand.”
Several cement suppliers are now conducting more regular testing, according to the report. Pool owners can also send concrete samples to a laboratory, although a single test can cost more than $3,500.
That price creates another difficult choice. Owners may suspect serious damage but still hesitate to spend thousands of dollars merely to confirm a problem that could require hundreds of thousands more to solve.
Residents May Be Asked to Pay
The Carlson Place homeowners association told residents it was considering a loan to reconstruct the pool while also continuing legal efforts to recover money from Pulte, the community’s developer, and any other responsible parties.
Lagrone said homeowners had been told that a loan could lead to an increase in association dues, possibly around $10 per month beginning in January 2027.
“They’ve told me they can either get a loan to fix it and costs would be passed down to us,” he said, “or they can continue fighting it, whatever litigation is currently ongoing.”
The HOA and Goodwin & Company declined to discuss the pool with KXAN.
A Pulte spokesperson said responsibility for maintaining the pool had been transferred to the homeowners association in 2024. The company had recently received information from the HOA and was reviewing it.
For residents, the question of responsibility is not abstract. They may have purchased homes partly because of the pool, paid association fees to maintain it, and now face higher monthly costs to replace a structure they believed should have lasted for decades.
Lagrone also expressed concern that the empty pool could affect property values, especially if prospective buyers see a damaged community amenity with no firm repair plan.
Complaints, Lawsuits and Failed Legislation
The pool industry is already facing lawsuits accusing companies of supplying or installing defective concrete.
Records obtained by KXAN showed that Texans had filed more than a dozen complaints mentioning ASR with the state attorney general’s office since March 2024. The complaints named pool companies and concrete suppliers.
Some homeowners also sought help from the Texas Department of Insurance, hoping their policies would cover the damage. The department received three complaints about the issue, but records showed it found no violations of state insurance law or regulations.
State Rep. Vikki Goodwin, an Austin Democrat and candidate for lieutenant governor, said Texas needs stronger protections to prevent similar problems.
“We can prevent this kind of thing from happening,” Goodwin told KXAN.
Goodwin previously introduced two bills that would have directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to create concrete quality standards and required sellers to disclose the ingredients in their materials. Neither proposal advanced far during the legislative session.
She hopes another lawmaker will revive the effort when the Legislature returns in January 2027.
“It is consumer protection,” Goodwin said. “We need to make sure that we’re regulating well to protect people when they’re investing so much money in their homes.”
KXAN also requested comment from Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is running against Goodwin, but he did not respond.
The debate now centers on whether more regulation is needed or whether stronger education, testing, and disclosure could prevent future failures. Either way, homeowners currently facing cracked pools cannot wait years for the industry and lawmakers to settle that question.
What Pool Owners Can Do
McIntyre advised people building pools to ask who supplies the concrete, what ingredients are in the mixture, and whether the builder or supplier has previously dealt with ASR.
Anyone buying a home with an existing pool should ask when it was constructed and which company built it, especially if it dates from 2017 through 2021.
A crack in one area does not necessarily mean the entire pool shell is affected. Temporary measures, such as applying a rubberized coating, may slow leaks or allow limited use, but McIntyre stressed that these methods do not cure the reaction.
For Lagrone and his neighbors, the immediate goal is much simpler than settling the broader technical and legal debate.
“We just want our pool back, and we just want our kids to have a fun summer,” he said. “We don’t want to be that community that’s got an empty pool.”
That summer appears unlikely to arrive soon. Until financing, legal responsibility, and reconstruction are resolved, the quiet pool will remain a visible reminder of a hidden chemical reaction that may be damaging thousands of other properties across Central Texas.
Ed spent his childhood in the backwoods of Maine, where harsh winters taught him the value of survival skills. With a background in bushcraft and off-grid living, Ed has honed his expertise in fire-making, hunting, and wild foraging. He writes from personal experience, sharing practical tips and hands-on techniques to thrive in any outdoor environment. Whether it’s primitive camping or full-scale survival, Ed’s advice is grounded in real-life challenges.
