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Cloudy water
forces closing
of Kalihi pool

A permanent fix for the
problem is scheduled to
begin in two weeks

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

The Kalihi Valley District Pool has been shut down again -- this time by the state Health Department for cloudy water.

City officials downplayed Wednesday's closure of the only public pool in the area, saying the pool was to be closed for repairs in the next two weeks anyway.

But City Councilwoman Donna Mercado Kim, who represents the district, said permanent repairs should have been done months ago.

The city will not be allowed to reopen the pool until the turbidity problem is fixed, said Health Department spokesman Patrick Johnston. He said pool officials notified the Health Department about the cloudy water, and a health inspector closed the pool because the lack of water clarity poses a danger.

Health officials are "speculating" that the situation was caused by a recent temporary paint job dissolving in the water, Johnston said. The city Parks Department gave the pool an epoxy paint surface last summer as a temporary fix to a troublesome vinyl lining that had forced the city to shut down the pool several times in the past.

A permanent tile lining was to go in last summer, but city officials put off the repair until after the busy summer months.

City spokeswoman Carol Costa said yesterday that the pool improvements are scheduled to begin Feb. 28. The $279,274 project calls for the repairs to be done in 50 days, sometime in May.

"We would have been shutting it down in two weeks anyway," Costa said.

Kim criticized the city administration for not starting the project after summer as originally envisioned. Told that the tile-lining project will begin in two weeks, Kim said, "I'm not holding my breath."

There were delays in awarding the pool work contract, and work has yet to begin some two months after a company was selected for the project in mid-December, Kim said.

Costa said the contract was awarded in January.

Tony Pfaltzgraff, executive director of the Kalihi YMCA, called the continuing problem at the pool disappointing.

His agency, like others, will now need to relocate its springtime pool programs, which begin in April. Pfaltzgraff said he must also decide whether to commit to the pool for the summer, beginning in early June, or look elsewhere again.

The program has already had to make arrangements for the winter months, he said.

"It is the swimming resource for the community," Pfaltzgraff said.