Mary Wayte Pool reopens after two-day closure

Mary Wayte Pool was closed for two days last week after a pipe in the pool’s main filtration system broke.

Thursday, Feb. 7 and Friday, Feb. 8 the pool was closed, while emergency repairs took place through Friday afternoon. The pool was reopened on Monday, Feb. 11.

District maintenance crews worked over the weekend to fix the pipe, which was degraded and corroded due to age and use, according to the district.

The breakdown took place just before the district high school swim meet on Friday which brings teams from the greater Puget Sound area to compete at Mary Wayte. The preliminary races on Friday were delayed an hour due while repairs were worked on.

“We have been monitoring the piping system and were prepared for something like this to happen,” said Tony Kuhn, the MISD director of maintenance and operations. The crew, along with a crew from sub-contractor Aquatic Specialty Services and members of the Olympic Cascade Aquatics (OCA) staff, worked late into Thursday night to repair the broken pipe.

The 40-year-old pool is owned and operated by the school district which subcontracts the operation of the pool to OCA.

Large scale work on the pool, including needed improvement to extend the life of the facility, were part of the February 2012 school bond which failed. The district has covered repairs such as the one that happened Thursday in in the district’s maintenance and operations budget.

“We are very grateful for the efforts of our maintenance crew, Aquatic Specialty Services and OCA for working hard to avert what could have been a major breakdown and long-term closure of the pool,” said MISD Superintendent Gary Plano. “Unfortunately, we are expecting more issues such as this one until we can acquire the funds to either extend the life of the pool, or replace it with a new one.”

Contact Mercer Island Reporter Staff Reporter Staff at editor@mi-reporter.com.

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