Friday, December 7, 2007
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Never give up on a Dream, this Could Happen
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- ojrpool
- Spring City, PA, United States
- Owen J. Roberts is one of two School Districts in Chester County, the Richest County in Pennsylvania that is blessed to have a Pool. My goal with this Blog, is to get the greater Community of OJR aware that the Pool exists, and make sure the Public is allowed to utilize the Pool. Afterall, what is the Value of ONE CHILD learning to Swim? Christian N. DeVol
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Never give up on a Dream, this Could Happen
3 comments:
Dear Administrators and Board Members of Owen J. Roberts School District,
It is my understanding that at a recent meeting there was discussion concerning the Owen J. Roberts Middle School Swimming and Diving pool and that Mr. Wade of Wade Associates made comments and responded to questions relating to the future of your swimming complex. Some of these comments and responses have been discussed with me and I have been asked to respond.
I have not been to your pool and can only respond to information that has been relayed to me through phone calls and the internet. I have read Dr. Bolton’s letter to the School Board dated May 4, 2005, and the report from Wade Associates titled FACILITY ASSESSMENT - DRAFT. I have previously written a response to Mr. Wade’s assessment awhile back which all of you should have received a copy.
With respect to comments and questions raised at your recent meeting on the pool I will respond to statements and answers which I understand Mr. Wade made. As some of you know, I was Chairman of the committee that prepared the referenced document and Editor of the manual. Following are excerpts taken from ANSI/NSPI -1 2003 American National Standard for Public Swimming Pools, the manual of national standards for public swimming pools. Italicized and underlined text is for emphasis by the writer of this analysis. This document is utilized by many states as their source for public swimming pool regulations and is also referenced in the ICC building code. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the Department of Health has discontinued the use of their uniform bathing code and adopted the ICC building code for all building regulations, including public swimming pools.
"Article 3 Definitions – page 2.
Class A pools - Class A pools are pools intended for use for accredited competitive aquatic events such as Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA), U.S.A. Swimming, U.S. Diving, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Federation of State High Schools Associations (NFSHSA), etc. The pool may also be used for recreation. Class A pools are covered unless otherwise noted in the body of the standard."
This section clearly indicates that competitive swimming and diving pools (Class A Pools) are for the use by accredited aquatic events, such as the National Federation of State High School Associations, and may also be used for recreation. It is my understanding the Mr. Wade stated the if a pool is used for recreational purposes that it is a Class B pool. Does Mr. Wade propose that once a university or high school allows one night of recreational swimming that their competitive facility immediately reverts to a Class B pool. That is preposterous.
"Class B pools - Class B pools are pools intended for public recreational swimming not otherwise classified. Class B pools are covered within the scope of this standard."
Since the OJR Middle School swimming pool was specifically designed to meet the needs of a competitive high school swimming program, it is classified as a Class A swimming pool, which can be used for instructional purposes as well as recreation. It has flat parallel walls, racing lane lines on the bottom, anchors for lane dividers, and a one meter springboard. All of the requirements for a high school swimming meet (a Class A pool).
"Article 6 Dimensional design – page 3.
6.2 Allowable construction tolerances. These construction tolerances are not applicable to Class A pools.
6.2.1 Finished pool dimensions shall be held within the following construction tolerances as shown in table 1."
The construction tolerances which are referred to in this section are not applicable to competitive swimming pools (Class A pools) and the table referenced in 6.2.1 clearly states that in competitive pools all dimensional requirements are governed by sanctioning authority, which in this case is NFSHSA.
"Article 6.4.1, page 4. Class A pools shall be designed and constructed to provide the dimensions specified by Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA), U.S.A. Swimming, U.S. Diving, or other appropriate sanctioning body. (See appendix H, Glossary for the definition of pools, Commercial/Public Pool: Class A)."
This sections tells us that Class A pools are to be designed and constructed so as to provide the dimensions specified by the appropriate sanctioning body. This section further asks us to view Appendix H for a glossary of pool definitions. With this suggestion we have the following:
"Class A, Competition Pool: Any pool intended for use for accredited competitive aquatic events such as La Federation Internationale De Natation Amateur (FINA), U.S. Swimming, U.S. Diving, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Federation of State High Schools Associations (NFSHSA), etc. The use of the pool is not limited to competitive events."
This clearly indicates that even though at times the swimming pool may be used for recreation, this gives no credence that it is not a Class A pool.
"Article 6.5, page 4. Diving. This standard does not cover diving requirements for Class A pools. This standard covers diving requirements for Class B and Class C pools. (See appendix H, Glossary.)"
This section clearly states that this standard does not cover diving requirements for competitive swimming and diving facilities. Therefore, any reference to Figure 1 – Construction dimensions for water envelopes for Class B and Class C pool, Figure 2 – Maximum allowable wall slope, and Table 2 – Minimum water envelopes on page 5, and especially Pool type IX (nine), is inappropriate and not applicable.
I understand that Mr. Wade, in an effort to confuse the issue, stated that NSPI is defunct and no longer exists. That is not true. The National Spa and Pool Institute (NSPI) did go through a bankruptcy procedure (as did Delta, US Air, and Northwest Airlines, and I think all of you are still flying) to reorganize and have since changed their name to The Association of Pool & Spa Professionals (APSP). Mr. Wade was a member of NSPI and is now a member of APSP, which is stated on his web site. Why would he claim that this organization no longer exists and yet still show membership in it? It might be to confuse you.
Mr. Wade has suggested that the turn over rate of the water in the swimming pool is not according to code. There is a need to be able to completely turn the entire pool water over in six hours. I do not know what the present rate of flow is and so this needs to be evaluated. As far as a method of increasing the flow rate there are several possible solutions. I understand that Mr. Wade suggests that the drains in the bottom of the pool be taken out and enlarged. This would require a significant amount jack hammering under the pool and the pool wall all the way back to the filter room. Since the Middle School pool is a gravity flow filtering system it would seem that an increase in the size and/or number of the gutter drains would significantly increase the rate of flow of the water returning to the filter room and an increase in the size and/or number of inlets to the pool, as Mr. Wade has suggested would accomplish this requirement. As most of you know, above ground swimming pools have no main drain under the pool. There is also a trend now to not even install main drains in below ground pools, such as you have at OJR MS. Total circulation is handled through gutter drains and inlets. The cost difference between these two methods is significant, even if the perimeter piping has to be enlarged.
There has been a suggestion that the deep end of the pool be knocked out in order to provide for a 25 meter pool. I do not understand the rationale for such a suggestion except to completely remove the up slope of the deep end to make it all in the neighborhood of 12 feet in depth. Doing this would require that a bulkhead be installed in order to provide for the 25 yards course required for the high school swimming meets. The bulkhead would have to be placed at the shallow end during meets since it would have to be out of the way of the diving area. Would the bulkhead be seven feet wide, the difference between 25 meters and 25 yards, or would it be five feet or three feet wide? If it is narrower than seven feet then there would be a space between the bulkhead and the shallow end wall where swimmers and officials could fall. A 25 meter pool, in my opinion, is not a good alternative.
A suggestion has been made to replace the entire gutter system and raise the water level 10 to 12 inches in order to deepen the diving end of the pool, which is now deeper than required for a pool built prior to 1987 used for high school competition, and also to decrease the effects of chloramines on the swimmers. Chloramines can be significantly reduced by direction of air flow from the air handling units and by strict enforcement of showers before entering the pool. The great disadvantage in making the pool 10 to 12 inches deeper is the significant loss of footing for the learn to swim program conducted in the Middle School Physical Education curriculum and any community programs which involve children or even adults who are not comfortable in water the is in the five feet deep range. In my opinion, this is not a sound move for the School District to make.
It is my opinion that the best direction for the Owen J. Roberts School District to take is to build a separate, stand alone diving well that is in close proximity to the present swimming pool. This offers significant opportunities for simultaneous activities in the natatorium. Swimming practice and diving practice, synchronized swimming and learn to swim, adult recreational swim and scuba diving, etc.
I understand that the comments I received are secondhand and may not be entirely accurate. If this is true, I apologize. On the other hand, if they are accurate, then I hope I have clarified some of the issues raised in your meeting. If there were other ideas or statements presented at your meeting that you feel I might have knowledge of, please do not hesitate to contact me. Also, if you did not receive a copy of my previous analysis of the draft of the facility assessment by Wade Associates and would like a copy please let me know.
Respectfully yours,
Donald Leas
if u make the pool different, make it 8 lanes it will benefit everyone!
nice post. thanks.
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