Despite the Cowra pool's high visitor numbers, Mayor Ruth Fagan said the council is losing about $400,000 a year to keep the doors open.

The flood-damaged pool leaks, the tiles are chipped, and chemicals are hand-mixed to reach the right balance in an outbuilding right on the floodplain.

It's a price worth paying to keep a safe swimming area open, Fagan said. The strong currents and stronger floods along the Galari Bila-Lachlan River make swimming outside the pool inadvisable.

"We have people who can dive in and are happy and comfortable in the water, but they wouldn't be able to save themselves if they were washed away - they can't swim the length of the pool, or even half the length of the pool," she said.

"We don't want to raise fees, because what's the point of having a pool that nobody uses?"

Fagan said local governments have to balance the cost of insurance, pool chemicals, energy and maintenance, all of which are rising faster than council rates.

It's a challenge faced by councils across the state.

In Walgett, the public pool was reopened in December after being closed when council was told it needed $2m in repairs. The Walgett shire council received a $375,000 grant in October to fund temporary fixes, but the mayor, Jasen Ramien, said that has only bought the town about 18 months to find the money for a permanent fix.

"I'll be very surprised if we get three years out of it in its current condition, with the simple factors of when it was built, and finding the funding," he said.

About 150 people have visited the pool every day since it reopened, Ramien said.

"We need a pool open where children can be monitored, where there are lifeguards on duty," he said. "We need these children in a controlled environment, not only for safety but for the health risk. In hot weather we have large blooms of blue-green algae in our waterways.

"[But] because of the amount of people that live in the area, we struggle with the amount of rates we can charge and receive from residents. We've struggled to keep day-to-day essentials like running water in the taps."

The state government said funding community pools is a responsibility of local government.

"Local councils are responsible for their financial sustainability, including monitoring their finances and making sure they are appropriately managing their expenses," a spokesperson for the NSW Office of Local Government said. "Swimming pools are one of many assets councils are required to manage."

However, they say the government "appreciates the critical role that swimming pools play for communities right across NSW, particularly in the regions".

The Royal Life Saving Society Australia said closing community pools is a safety issue. Drowning research conducted by the organisation said inland rivers and lakes are the deadliest places for swimmers.

Its CEO, Justin Scarr, said inland waterways are "inherently dangerous" even for strong swimmers, and 40% of public swimming pools will reach critical refurbishment milestones before 2030.

"The cost of a single drowning in those communities far exceeds any subsidy for opening a pool," he said. "We have to fully value the benefit of pools."