Sewage Spill in Community Park Pool Filter Room Is Due to an “Old and Tattered” Pipe in Men’s Room

Ellen Gilbert

While the excavation and repair of a recent men’s room leak at the Community Park Pool Complex remains to be done, Recreation Department Executive Director reported that quick action by the department ensured that use of the pool complex has not been compromised.

Although there is no easy access to the broken pipe, and repairing it will require making a hole in a concrete wall, Mr. Roberts said he hoped that the work would be completed by this coming weekend. Monday, September 6 is the last official day that the pool will be open this season, although extra hours from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, September 11 and 12, have been scheduled as a bonus to pool users.

A warning sign (“ATTENTION: There is a pipe break in the sanitary sewer line below the toilets” ) has greeted men’s locker room users for the last week. Users have been redirected to use a toilet in the first aid room near the wading pool, or public bathrooms located next to the men’s room outside the pool.

Upon discovering the leak, the Recreation Department brought in Health Department representatives, and temporarily began using a concession stand line to re-route the sewage that was spilling out of the broken pipe. Photographs taken immediately after the break show a sea of accumulated sewage and toilet paper. “Maintenance workers threw bleach on it and scrubbed it up,” according to Mr. Roberts.

“It keeps coming around to haunt us,” said Mr. Roberts of the regular break-downs that now plague the 43-year old pool. Observing the “old and tattered” condition of the pipes involved in the current leak, he noted that an earlier leak this season near the back of the main pool ran up a $5,900 tab for repairs and pavement replacement. “Now every day we expect something new.” He anticipates that costs for repairing the current break will be about $3,000.

In the meantime, Mr. Roberts said, the Recreation Board is writing what he described as “a book-length” response to recent criticisms of the most recent iteration of proposed pool renovations. These included expressions of concern about the use of a stainless steel pool, which, Mr. Roberts said, had already been well-researched for soundness of use, but would be revisited once again.

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