Highlands High School could be without its pool for the next several months if leaders greenlight a major renovation to resolve costly leaks.
“We’ve had problems for a while, and we’ve spent more than $4,800 so far trying to solve the issue,” said Chris Reiser, the district’s buildings and grounds supervisor, during a school board agenda meeting this month. “I’m not sure how much further you want to go.”
At one point, the pool was losing around 400 gallons of water an hour, Reiser said.
Recent fixes have trimmed that to about 300 gallons an hour, or about 7,200 gallons a day.
“We made a little progress, but it still is a pretty significant loss of water,” he said. “It makes it difficult to treat it and to heat it.”
The 165,000-gallon pool is kept at about 75 degrees. It needs to be refilled about every three weeks.
The amount of money spent to continuously refill the pool is unclear.
The board took no action during its Oct. 18 business meeting, but Superintendent Monique Mawhinney said she plans to meet with Reiser and other experts to consider options.
The board meets next at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 in the high school library.
Reiser said a diver swam for six hours in the pool trying to determine where the leaks are originating.
“We found cracks in the bottom that we sealed with epoxy, but that didn’t slow down the leaks too much at this point,” Reiser said.
A pool closure would impact students enrolled in the beginner and advanced swimming courses at the high school, Principal Shawn Bennis said.
Athletic Director Drew Karpen said he would need to scout alternate locations for swim meets and practices. There are about 15 students who swim on the high school team, whose season begins in November.
Reiser said a long-term fix could mean shutting down the pool during the upcoming semester to have it regrouted.
Cost are unclear, as is the potential duration of the project.
“There is a lot of grout missing, and I think it could solve a lot of the leaks based on the amount of grout in the bottom of the pool,” he said.
