After three months on dry land, the wait to get back in the pool may be over before Christmas.
Westlock’s community services director Mike Butler reported to council at its Dec. 8 meeting that a lot of progress is being made at the Westlock Aquatic Centre, and delivery of the new Master Control Centre (MCC) unit was slated for last week.
“We’ll get that hooked up and if everything goes well we’ll try a dry run with the pumps on Dec. 12. If all goes well there, we should be open by the 20th of December,” he said.
“But I emphasize everything’s got to go well.”
Mayor Ralph Leriger noted it would be best to be cautious, with pumps having been out of service since September.
With that much downtime, there could be some leaks in seals or other problems that arise once the pump starts again.
Every year the pool is closed down for some routine maintenance and repairs in September. This year, work crews discovered that significantly more than routine maintenance would be needed — there was an electrical problem causing a ground fault in the system.
The problem was ultimately tracked to the MCC, and to some wiring leading to it.
Council passed a motion at its Oct. 27 meeting to pay for a new unit. At the time Butler explained the $158,000 fix would be a long-term solution to the problem with the MCC — it’s expected to last until the end of the pool’s usable lifespan, which is pegged at another 20 years.
“Things have been going well with regard to repairs to the MCC unit. The concrete’s been poured, the hanger system has been put up and the wire have all been installed,” Butler said last week.
According to a report he presented at the meeting, other repairs and refurbishments associated with the shutdown are also nearly complete: there will be new tiles and urinals in the men’s change room, the sauna lights will be replaced and the slide and mango tree will be repaired prior to the reopening.
