Columbia Falls pool work will cost $44,000

Northwest Montana News Network

To get the Pinewood Park Pool up and running for the season, the city of Columbia Falls expects to spend $44,000 before summer.

Over the past several months the pool's heater, basin and chlorination system have been under repair. These repairs have revealed the need for further upgrades and repairs to the tune of about $44,000.

"Things just go from bad to worse," City Manager Bill Shaw said. "Hopefully this will be the end to the worse."

One of the major costs is a piece of basin liner that is expected to cost $22,000. The pool uses a continuous watertight liner covering the entire pool basin to prevent water from leaking out of the pool.

A large piece of the liner had to be removed to expose an area of concrete floor so broken drain pipes could be repaired.

Drain pans that don't comply with current law also had to be upgraded.

The original liner was sculpted in place to fit the contour of the floor. The size of the new pans and the inability to return the floor to its precise original shape require a replacement liner.

Because the liner is manufactured only in England, getting it to Columbia Falls by early May requires air freight delivery, increasing the overall cost.

The other major upgrade is in the water disinfecting system. Currently the system converts common salt to chlorine, which is expensive to operate and repair. A recent test of the system found that all of the chlorine generators are irreparable. The system also is obsolete and would cost about $25,000 to install.

City staff has determined that the system should be replaced by a less complicated device that dissolves chlorine tablets to disinfect the water. Estimated cost of installation for the new system is $6,500.

Shaw said this method is used at The Wave in Whitefish and by the city of Kalispell.

Other work on the pool is expected to require an additional $9,500.

Repairs should be completed in the next couple of weeks and the pool is expected to open at its normal time in mid-June.

Last summer the pool opened but was forced to close while repairs to the pool were made. The pool was leaking substantial amounts of water and it took crews a few weeks to solve the problem.

The pool generates about $23,000 in revenue each summer, but repairs often run above that. Last summer repairs cost $90,000.