Major pool infrastructure failures and leaks associated with them led the Valley-Shore YMCA’s Board of Directors to make the difficult decision to close the 1975-vintage Prymas Pool rather than repair it. The newer Lee Pool was not affected by these issues and will be used for Y programming.

“The pool was built in 1975 and has served the Y well. When it was built, the pool had a useful life of 20 to 25 years, which it has exceeded,” said Chris Pallatto, executive director of the Valley-Shore Y.

Pallatto said that a pool professional has estimated that the cost to repair and replace the Prymas Pool’s failed valves and other equipment would be at least $200,000, but that estimate doesn’t reflect unknown problems that could arise during the excavation and construction process. The board didn’t believe raising funds to pay for significant repairs to a pool already beyond its useful life was wise.

Instead, the Valley-Shore Y Board and management plan to use this challenge to plan a new future for the Y facility and its programming as the Y approaches its 100-year anniversary in 2017.

“We’re excited that this gives us the opportunity to re-imagine what we can do with the pool area. We want to be thoughtful and deliberate as we evaluate what the best option will be for our community,” said Pallatto. “We are very fortunate to have a newer pool which can accommodate our programming.”

What Happened

The flooded basement was the first clue that the Valley-Shore Y had a major problem with the Prymas Pool.

On May 13, staff noticed that the pool’s level began to drop and the Y building’s basement began to flood. Management quickly tied the flooding to a failure in the pool’s drainage system and drained the pool to prevent further damage to the pool’s mechanical systems and infrastructure.

The Y’s pool contractor was called in to inspect the pool’s drainage lines with a camera. On May 18, after examining the video footage and pressure test results, the pool contractor said that two key valves in the pool’s main drains had failed and water was flowing from the pool into the surrounding ground. Based on the leak rate, however, not all of the leaks appeared to be tied to these failed valves.

Additional tests on May 22 found that a key component of the pool’s infrastructure, a holding tank buried behind the pool, had also failed, and significant leaks from that tank were also infiltrating the surrounding ground.

That’s when Pallatto decided to seek a professional assessment on the scope and cost of a Prymas Pool fix. The high cost to repair the aging pool finally led the Valley-Shore Y Board to pull the plug on a pool repair project.

Pallatto said the Y’s summer programming will not be significantly affected by the loss of the Prymas Pool because the Y’s other pool, the Lee Pool, remains open and was not affected by the Prymas Pool issues.

Programs originally slated for the Prymas Pool will be relocated to the Lee Pool. The temperature of the Lee Pool was raised slightly to support programs like youth swimming lessons and summer camp free-swim times. Adult lap-swimming times will still be offered in the Lee Pool, but the lanes available for this purpose will be more limited now than during a normal summer.