Good Morning Swim Team,

We have been working since Spring Break get the pool ready for inspection so swim team can begin practicing this Monday. The pool has been drained 2/3rd's of the way, the tiles scrubbed and 5 under water lights are now in working order. Inspection was this Monday and we passed with one stipulation. We have to lower the cyanuric acid. I've been advised by 2 pool managers and the city inspector that the only way to lower the cyanuric acid is to drain the pool. It is a stabilizer for the chlorine and builds up over time. It does not burn off like the chlorine.

I did a little research to be certain and here is what I found: "There is no chemical to lower Cyanuric Acid. Once your Cyanuric Acid reading reaches or eclipses the 100 ppm maximum parameter, you will need to drain your pool, either partially or completely. It is best to drain the water completely. It will take years to reach the 100 ppm maximum reading for Cyanuric Acid." Our reading is at 140 ppm.

This is a relatively harmless solution but it takes time. In order to get the pool to the present condition, Maggie, Cullen, Mitchell and I have been working after school, after work, every weekend including Easter and again this Mother's Day. Cullen is quite ill now and Mitch is not a certified pool operator so he scrubs and vacuums. This leaves Maggie and I to drain  the pool but after that someone else can babysit the hoses in order to refill the pool.

To put this in perspective, the pool contains 138,000 gallons of water. It takes an hour to lower the water level approximately 4 inches. When refilling, the hose allows for 3 gallons per minute.

I know that some of you are asking how this is possible when we already drained the pool 2/3 of the way. I can only speculate about this. There must have been a tremendous amount of build up - probably around 200 ppm.

I know that some of you are wondering about the heater. We have 2 functioning heaters that if both were run would warm the pool without any problem. Mr. McLarty has spent hours of his own time, researching why we are not able to use both heaters and working to resolve this issue. The bottom line is that the natural gas flow from the city is not enough to support both heaters. He met with a city official who basically said that the city is not obligated to help us by increasing the flow rate. So, he is looking into replacing the regulator valve with a larger one to boost the flow.

In the meantime, I believe that the one heater will allow us to warm the pool but will take twice as long to do so. Each time we vacuum the pool, we have to backwash the dirt through the filters which means we lower the water lever bout an inch and water naturally evaporates. This means we put in more cold water so until the sun comes out to help, the one heater is our only source of heating the water at the present.

I am asking for patience and understanding. I have a full time job, Maggie and Mitchell are graduating from high school and taking a full load, Cullen is in college, taking finals and works at the Radison pool as well. Please do not compare our situation with other pools. We are not able to be full time employees of the club until school is out for all of us.

I will keep Molly posted and I appreciate your patience,

CJ Feng

Given this situation, our plan is as follows:

Monday, May 9 - 4:30 and 5:30 practices (choose according to convenience): Dry Land exercise.  Wear clothes that are comfortable and easy to move around in.  Coaches are going to make you sweat.  Wear tennis shoes.  Bring swimsuit, towel, and kickboard in the event we can get in the water.  As you know from years prior, we may not know until the DAY OF if the pool will be ready.

 

Tuesday, May 10 and Wednesday, May 11:  Same as Monday

 

Thursday, May 12 - NO PRACTICE (The club has an event scheduled at the pool.  This is GOOD for us, because the pool MUST be ready by this day.)

 

Friday, May 13 - ONE PRACTICE at 4:30, followed by Meet the Coaches dinner at 5:30.  Menu is burgers and hotdogs provided by the club.  It is only $5 per person - swim team is picking up the rest.  Some of you paid along with your registration, but if you did not, you can give that money to any of the officers throughout next week (Molly Cheves, Heather Allen, Julie Ellis).  More information to come.

 

Like CJ, I appreciate your understanding about the pool issue.  Please remember that despite this situation, we are still far ahead of the game.  I'm looking forward to a great week next week!

Thanks,

Molly Cheves