How should an HOA run a swimming beach on the community lake?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 24, 2026

How an HOA board runs a lake swimming beach: state bathing place rules in TX, FL and CO, algae and bacteria testing, swim area buoys, lifeguards and closures.

Part of the HOA board handbook: vendors, projects and upkeep.

The short answer

A lake beach is the riskiest amenity most associations own. Pool water is filtered and chlorinated. Lake water carries whatever the watershed sends it: lawn fertilizer, goose droppings, storm runoff and, in a hot summer, toxic algae. The bottom drops off where nobody can see it. A board that runs a beach needs four things in writing: what state rules apply, when the beach closes, how the swim area is marked, and who watches the water. Start with the facts that are easy to miss. The CDC reports that more children ages 1 to 4 die from drowning than from any other cause. A lake gives a parent less warning than a pool, because a child who goes under in murky water disappears. This guide is general education, not legal advice. State rules, your declaration and your insurer decide what your association has to do. Read the rest of this guide with your attorney and your insurance agent, not instead of them.

Find out whether the state treats it as a public beach

Each of the three main states draws the line differently, and the line often turns on whether the beach is open to the public or charges a fee. Florida. Statute 514.011(4) defines a public bathing place as a natural or modified body of water, including lakes and ponds, used for swimming by consent of the owner and held out to the public, whether or not a fee is charged. The exemptions in 514.0115 cover small HOA pools, not bathing places. Whether a residents-only beach is held out to the public is a question for counsel. If it is, the Department of Health rules in Florida Administrative Code chapter 64E-9, which includes a rule on bathing places, apply to your beach. Texas. Health and Safety Code 341.064 regulates public swimming pools and artificial swimming lagoons. It does not mention natural lakes. The state pool rules in 25 TAC chapter 265 define a public pool as a man-made structure, so a beach on a natural or impounded lake falls outside them. That leaves the board with fewer state rules and more of the judgment calls. Colorado. C.R.S. 25-5-801(1) defines a natural swimming area as a designated part of a natural or impounded body of water used for swimming for which an individual is charged a fee. Section 25-5-804 then requires a sanded beach no steeper than 1 foot in 10, buoys or signs no more than 100 feet apart marking water over 3 feet deep and the outer edge of the swim area, a ring buoy on 75 feet of line, a rescue boat with oars, and full lighting for night swimming. A beach covered by dues and no per-person fee may fall outside the definition. The list still makes a good equipment checklist for any HOA beach.

Test the water and close when it fails

Two hazards decide whether the beach opens on a given day: bacteria and toxic algae. Write the closing rule before the season, so nobody argues about it in July. Bacteria. The EPA's 2012 recreational water quality criteria set an E. coli geometric mean of 126 colony forming units per 100 milliliters, or 100 under the stricter option, measured over 30 days. For a single sample, EPA's beach action values for E. coli in fresh water are 235 or 190. Hire a state-certified lab to sample weekly in season, and more often after heavy rain, which washes runoff into the lake. A rule the board can adopt: the beach closes when a single sample tops 235, and reopens after a resample comes back below it. Algae. EPA recommends swimming advisories at 8 micrograms per liter of microcystins or 15 micrograms per liter of cylindrospermopsin. You cannot tell a toxic bloom by looking at it. Colorado's health department puts it plainly: if in doubt, stay out, because only testing shows whether a bloom is toxic. CDC advises staying out of discolored, scummy or smelly water and keeping pets away, because toxins can kill a dog within hours. Close the beach the day anyone sees a bloom, and send a sample to a lab before reopening. Report blooms. In Florida, call the Department of Environmental Protection algal bloom hotline at 855-305-3903. In Colorado, contact the health department's ToxCall line at 303-692-2606. Texas Parks and Wildlife responds when fish or wildlife are affected but does not routinely test lakes, so Texas boards should plan on paying a lab themselves. Warm water adds one more risk. CDC says Naegleria fowleri, the brain-eating ameba, lives in warm fresh water and infects people only when water goes up the nose. Post a sign in late summer telling swimmers to hold their nose or wear a nose clip when jumping in, and not to dig in the shallow sediment.

Mark the swim area and keep boats out

Swimmers need to know where the bottom is safe, and boaters need to know where swimmers are. Survey the swim area before you set buoys. Wade or sound the bottom on a grid, note where the depth passes 3 feet and 5 feet, and look for drop-offs, stumps, pipes and old fence posts. Use buoys that match the federal marking system so they mean what people expect. Under 33 CFR 62.33, regulatory marks are white with orange shapes. A diamond with a cross means boats are excluded, an open diamond warns of danger, and a circle marks an operating rule such as no wake. A rope line of floats along the outer edge of the swim area keeps swimmers from drifting out. Know what the buoys can and cannot do. In Texas, Parks and Wildlife Code 31.102 bars boats from swim areas marked by the department or a political subdivision, and the code gives local governments, not associations, the power to designate them. On an HOA lake, the buoy line is enforced through your own rules. Write the boating rule to match it: no boats, kayaks or paddleboards inside the swim area at any time. Our guide on setting rules for kayaks and paddleboards on the HOA pond covers the rest of the boating rules.

Decide on lifeguards and rescue gear

None of the Texas, Florida or Colorado statutes reviewed for this guide requires lifeguards at a private lake beach, and Colorado's natural swimming area law requires equipment, not guards. If your Florida beach is a public bathing place, read the 64E-9 supervision rules with counsel before you decide. Either way, the choice usually comes down to your insurer and to how many young children use the beach. If the board hires guards, require open water training, not just a pool certificate. The American Red Cross offers a Waterfront Skills module on top of its lifeguarding course for that purpose. Our guide on hiring a lifeguard company for an HOA pool covers contracts and insurance certificates, and the same checklist works for a beach. If the board decides against guards, say so on the sign in large letters: no lifeguard on duty, swim at your own risk, children must be supervised by an adult at all times. Then put rescue gear at the waterline where anyone can reach it: a ring buoy on a throw line, a reaching pole, a first aid kit and a sign giving the beach's street address for 911 calls. Check the gear every week, because ring buoys walk off.

Liability and the rules sign

All three states name swimming in their recreational use statutes, and all three limit the protection when the owner charges for use. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 75.001(3) lists swimming, and 75.003(c) limits the protection for private owners based on the fees they charge or the insurance they carry. Florida Statute 375.251 lists swimming but protects only owners who provide an area to the public without charge. Colorado C.R.S. 33-41-102(5) lists swimming, and 33-41-104 removes the protection when a charge is made or the owner willfully fails to warn of a danger. Whether dues count as a charge is a question for counsel. Do not plan around these laws. Plan around the insurer instead. Tell the carrier the beach exists, how deep the swim area is, whether you hire guards, and when it is open. Ask whether the general liability policy excludes swimming or water hazards, and get the answer in writing. The sign wording the board can adapt: 'Beach hours [time] to [time]. No lifeguard on duty. Swim at your own risk. Children under [age] must be with an adult. Swim only inside the buoys. No glass, no pets in the swim area, no diving. The beach closes when water tests fail or algae is present. Report problems to [contact].'

A season timeline and the mistakes boards make

April: survey the swim area depth, inspect buoys and anchors, refill sand where the beach has eroded, and sign the lab contract. May: first water test two weeks before opening, set buoys and rescue gear, post the sign, and send owners the season rules. Memorial Day to Labor Day: weekly tests, plus a test after every heavy rain, a weekly gear check, and a closure notice by email and on the gate within an hour of a failed test. September: pull buoys and store them, and log the season's test results. A motion the board can adapt: 'I move that the board adopt the attached beach operating rules, approve a water testing contract with [lab] at a cost not to exceed $[amount] for the season, and authorize the manager or any director to close the beach immediately when a test exceeds the adopted limits or a bloom is visible.' The common mistakes: opening on a date instead of on a passing test. Letting one director decide closures by text with no written standard. Letting residents feed geese on the beach, which leaves droppings in the sand and the shallows. Setting buoys without checking the bottom. Calling the beach supervised when nobody is watching the water. And no log: keep every test result, closure and gear check, because that record is the board's best evidence if something goes wrong.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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