The Cobar Memorial Swimming Pool reopened on Friday after urgent repairs were carried out to repair serious leaks in both pools.
Cobar Shire Council’s director of corporate and community services Kym Miller, who is in charge of the council owned asset, told The Cobar Weekly on Thursday that a number of leaks had been found in the 50 metre pool as well as the heated multi-purpose pool.
“We monitor water use daily and found we were losing too much,” Mr Miller said.
“With the cool weather and hardly any patrons using the pool, it alerted us that there was a problem.”
Mr Miller said they called in contractors to assess the pool for leaks with two scuba divers meticulously checking every square centimetre of the pool.
“They found a number of leaks in the main pool and also a number of leaks in the heated pool.”
Mr Miller said the leaks in the main pool were found mainly on the seams and could be explained as being caused by soil movement under the pool due to a very wet winter.
He said there were also a few other leaks in the 50m pool which could be attributed to general wear and tear.
Mr Miller said all the pipes were also tested for leaks.
“We found some leaks and they were sealed.
“At this stage it’s pretty much a ‘Band-Aid’ repair and we’ll need to do more permanent repairs in the off season,” he said.
The multi-purpose pool still has a few small leaks, which Mr Miller said are manageable and will be repaired in the off season also.
“We’ll be monitoring it closely,” he said.
The leaks appear to be under the liner which may be repaired or replaced under warranty.
“We’ll need to look into that further,” Mr Miller said.
Testing was carried out on the 50m pool on Wednesday night.
“It’s now water-tight,” Mr Miller said.
“The multi-purpose pool has been repaired to a manageable level.”
He said council appreciated the public’s patience during the pool’s closure.
“It’s been a cool week, I don’t think we’ve inconvenienced too many patrons.”
He said with water costs of $4 per kilolitre, it was important to repair the leaks quickly.
He said council staff also took the opportunity to do a few other maintenance jobs around the pool while it was closed to the public including repairing one of the shade sail cloths.
