Bridgeport Parks and Recreation Director Don Burton knew there was a bit of a problem last year with the city pool. And he knew it for two reasons – one physical and one financial.

 

On the physical front, the amount of water needing to bring the pool up to acceptable levels on a daily basis was much higher than years past. On the financial front, the bill for water was about $1,000 higher than the previous year.

 

Burton said the city pool always experiences daily water loss due to things such as evaporation and splashing by those utilizing the pool. This past year, however, Burton said there was an excessive amount of water being put into the pool each day in comparison to years past, which led to the conclusion of the leak.

 

“We know we have a leak somewhere in the pool area and we’ve narrowed it down to the area around the corner where the dives are located,” said Burton.

 

This morning, workers with P&R began breaking up the concrete deck of the pool and digging down to see if there was an obvious area where the leak was situated. Burton said workers were going down three feet.

 

“We’ve yet to determine the exact cause of the leak, but there are three possibilities with one likely not being the problem,” said Burton. “The leak could be coming from the corner of the stainless steel in the pool or a seam in the stainless steel on the side of the pool. There’s an outside chance that it’s a water line, but that’s probably not the case.”

 

When asked if the leak could be caused by the failing retaining wall that is behind the diving area and backside of the pool along Simpson Creek, Burton said he wasn’t sure. However, he didn’t rule that out.

 

“It could be related to the wall moving. If the earth is moving, it could force the separation of the seams in the stainless seal,” said Burton. “It’s certainly possible.”

 

Work on the retaining wall is anticipated to take place at the end of the upcoming pool season. Burton said this problem should be fixed prior to opening day.

 

“I don’t foresee this impacting the opening of city pool next month,” Burton said.