The Piedmont Community Pool project started construction on January 27, 2023 with plans for the pool to be among the first all-electric municipal pools in the country. Mechanics and engineers have conducted numerous tests since the pools were filled in September. There are four systems designed to run the all-electric municipal pool – the chemical treatment, pumping, filtration, and heating systems. The systems are still undergoing isolated testing to ensure safety and effectiveness, and three of the four systems have passed. The heating system was unable to continue its testing due to the need for replacement parts.
“During the commissioning process, three actuators, or mixing valves, were identified as inoperable. They have since been replaced, and associated electrical work is scheduled. Testing is expected to resume later this week,” explained Piedmont City Administrator Rosanna Bayon Moore.
Once the heating system receives its replacement parts and resumes testing, the pool systems will start integrated testing to confirm all systems are operational. Moore described the importance of this testing.
“Integrated testing involves a range of scenario-based stress tests designed to simulate sustained public use. This phase takes time but is essential to ensuring reliable long-term operations,” she said.
Afterall testing is complete, the pool will be handed off to a Piedmont Aquatics Operations Team. They will then conduct technical systems training for more than 100 hours. This intensive technical training for city staff members will include the electrical, mechanical, and control systems that run the facility.
The Operations team will conduct multi-week on-site training for lifeguards and other daily staff and will focus on daily operational procedures, including emergency response drills, lifeguard rotations, and customer service.
The community pool has two pools. One for activity and one for competition. The shallower activity pool will be for kids and swim lessons for learners. The activity pool’s warmer water will be useful for recreational swimmers, looking to not freeze as they take their laps around the pool.
The competition pool is 12 lanes starting at seven feet of depth to 12.5 feet at the diving well. Each lane will be 25 yards long for competitive swimming, and the pool is the regulation size for water polo matches. The pool will have an electric scoreboard for swim meets and water polo matches.
Opening date?
“The City is not yet able to provide a specific opening date. Work is advancing steadily, and the project remains within its authorized funding,” said Moore.
