Water leaks have postponed the opening of Cheney’s municipal pool from this Friday to sometime early next week, with city officials hopeful for a Tuesday start to the swimming season.
At the June 11 City Council meeting, Cheney City Administrator Mark Schuller said they initially discovered two leaks when filling the pool last week. The first two were capped off and fixed on Saturday, but crews again came to the conclusion there were more leaks as sand was present in the water circulating in the system.
A third leak was found in the bottom of the pool’s deep end in a pipe previously repaired in 2009-2010. Schuller said it was a “major failure” requiring extensive work. He said crews led by parks maintenance supervisor Rick Engel hoped to have the leak repaired, with new concrete poured and caulking done by Wednesday, June 12, with water back in the pool this weekend.
Schuller also said the pool’s heating system is scheduled to be repaired this Saturday as well.
“We have a 55-year-old pool, these things happen,” Schuller told the council.
Schuller added that they hope to have the pool ready for swimming lessons, which beging next Tuesday, June 18. The repair work has led to cancellation of this Friday’s public open swim.
“Will we have one at some point?” Councilwoman Jill Weiszmann asked of the popular free public event, to which Schuller said they would at some point.
Crews aren’t certain what caused the leaks. Antifreeze liquid is run in the facility’s pipes at the end of each season to prevent cracking caused by freezing, and Schuller said Engel suspects some of that might have leaked.
Councilman Paul Schmidt said the repairs are a good opportunity for the city to begin a discussion about the future of the pool, possibly adding such considerations to the upcoming 2020 budget. Schmidt said at some point, the law of diminishing returns would make continued repairs of the facility price prohibitive.
“You talk about life expectancy, you could keep it going for 100 years, but at what cost,” he said.
Schmidt was Cheney City Administrator in the early 2000s when discussions between the city and the county on a joint venture to fund a new pool serving the region took place. He pointed out that then as now, the pool was used not only by Cheney residents but also by people living outside of the city.
The county declined to enter into a joint venture with the city on a new pool, citing the use of swimming areas at lakes such as Fish Lake as evidence a new facility was not needed.
“We’d have to subsidize it because pools don’t pay for themselves,” Schmidt added.
John McCallum can be reached at [email protected].
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