Our local Y has a very nice competition pool. For years it was the fastest pool in the area other than at Marshall. But they got a new Aquatic Director who would not fill the pool to the level of the overflow. (No matter how many times it was explained to her that the water was not going down the drain and was simply being collected, she was convinced it was going down the drain and her water budget was going to increase.
) So as you noted, a swimmer comes into the wall and instead of their wake going up and over the lip into the drain, it came back to them. Slowed the pool down quite a bit.
How does one become an aquatic director when they don’t understand how pools work? Typically the perimeter overflow design is an essential part of the filtration system- particularly if it’s designed to overflow in the grates continuously, otherwise hair and other floating debris has nowhere to go. I would think if that’s indeed case she might have a public health violation on her hands.
Idk about where you live but here in Mass and CT where I grew up there’s a lot of regulation around pools, especially public and semi public pools. Everything has to be documented. I just looked up Mass’s laws and it states 50% of the water to filter is supposed to be skimmed from the surface- makes sense considering every backyard pool’s filtration system I’ve ever dealt with. The minim flow rate is 20gpm. So unless that pool has a ton of skimmers or gutters that continually catch water, I can’t imagine she’s compliant.
The “slow” pool I spoke of had a continuous perimeter overflow, like most modern pools. I have no idea what was causing the problem in that pool. It was practically brand new and definitely cost and arm and leg. Maybe the the gutters/overflow system couldn’t swallow enough water? Maybe it was too shallow? Maybe the lane lines were of poor design (the rings are supposed to act as baffles)?
You’d think considering how long we’ve been building pools they’d have it pretty much figured out by now. I would think designs would be pretty standardized at this point.
I forgot to say the 87 degree pool also tasted like sweat. I probably shouldn’t be surprised by that. They should probably change their water.
The other worst pool I ever swam in was at the YMCA in Boston, prior to renovations, the oldest YMCA in the US. First, the locker rooms looked like something out out a saw movie. Plus like an old YMCA, they offered cheap accommodation, so there were often pretty sketchy people around. They never used the pool though.
The pool was 25 yards and 3 lanes. It was so old the walls seemed to be canting inwards. There was about an inch of sand at the bottom of the pool, presumably they used a sand filter. The only skimming was provided when enough agitation occurred that water would overflow into the gutter. As a result, it was filled with hair.
Quite frequently I would be swimming laps and the lifeguard would be talking on his/her phone. On numerous occasions the lifeguard would stop me and say “hey, I’m going to leave for a few minutes, are you good if I leave?”… only to come back 20-30 min later.
They would also do this thing where they would remove one or both lane lines, throw a bunch of inflatable toys on the pool, turn off all the lights, and show a movie using a projector on the wall. The idea was kids could watch a movie while floating on a pool toy or swimming.
I cannot imagine their risk management company, if they even had one, would approve of such a thing in a million zillion years. Talk about so dangerous.
The funny thing, as horrific as that pool was, is I probably swam 15+ miles a week in that pool for a couple years. Looking back I question my sanity.
