The Associated Students, Inc. (ASI) Recreation Center lap pool, which was closed during the summer for re-plastering and concrete pouring, has reopened.
Lap pool users will not notice any differences, according to ASI director of facilities management Ron Skamfer. Only the degrading materials, including the plaster and concrete, were replaced. The pool is visually and functionally the same.
The plaster that coats pool bottoms typically lasts 15 years, Skamfer said. The lap pool plaster was last poured 15 years ago, so it was in need of replacement.
If not replaced, pool plaster can become hazardous to pool users, with the possibility of chipping and cutting users’ feet, according to Skamfer. The concrete ADA pool entrance ramp was also degrading and replaced during summer.
The project began June 1 and Skamfer said that ASI originally “targeted Labor Day weekend,” for the reopening. However, the contractor ASI was working with could not source in time for the deck drain surrounding the pool. This hiccup delayed the reopening and the project’s completion until Sept. 21.
Alternatives during the closure were dedicated lap lanes in the shallow leisure pool or the Anderson Aquatic Center pool, which was opened to Rec Center members only during the lap pool’s closure.
Environmental earth and soil sciences junior Sean Moran is a frequent user of the lap pool who had to work around the Aquatic Center’s limited open hours during the summer.
“[The] closure didn’t make it as easy to swim with my schedule,” Moran said.
Now that the pool is open again, Moran said he is grateful that he will not have to balance life with limited pool hours and intends to continue to use the Rec Center lap pool as he did before.
The project accomplished all ASI goals and Skamfer said he does not expect any future closures.