Reports that the city
’s new 50-meter Olympic-sized pool could be too short were
proved wrong Thursday. The pool may be too long. However, Aquatics
Center Project Manager Glenn Ritter said it may just be a
difference in surveying and probably not as serious as it sounds at
first.
Reports that the city’s new 50-meter Olympic-sized pool could be too short were proved wrong Thursday. The pool may be too long.
However, Aquatics Center Project Manager Glenn Ritter said it may just be a difference in surveying and probably not as serious as it sounds at first.
An anonymous phone call to The Times Thursday morning claimed that surveyors measuring the pool Wednesday for certification by USA Swimming found it half an inch or about 1.27 centimeters too short.
“No Olympic records will be set in that pool,” the caller said, “since events are timed to 1,000th and even 10,000th of a second and a half inch would make a difference.”
Ritter said the caller was right about the discrepancy but the difference was really about 1.5 inches (3.81 cm) or up to half an inch (beyond an allowed variable) in some lanes.
A call to the subcontractor who supervised the pool’s construction, Lafe Castro of California Commercial Pools of Glendora, found that CCP had had Patrell Engineering Group survey the pool and provide certification that it was, indeed, 50 meters or within the very small variable required for USA Swimming to certify the pool for world record events.
The Morgan Hill Swim Club (the Makos) is a member of USA Swimming and plans to hold competitions at the Aquatics Center, which opened last weekend. The first meet is Saturday.
Ritter had asked MH Engineering to do a second survey, independent from Patrell’s, as required by USA Swimming.
MH Engineering’s survey showed differing lengths across the pool.
“If the pool really is too long,” Ritter said, “then the contractor owes us a pool with the correct dimensions. In the absolutely worst-case scenario though, it won’t cost the city a dime.”
Castro agreed that his company would be liable but said it shouldn’t come to that. He has confidence in CCP’s construction and Patrell’s surveying.
“We have lots of experience in building pools,” Castro said, “and Patrell has surveyed hundreds of pools.”
Not one has ever been the wrong size, he said. CCP built the new Live Oak High School pool.
On Thursday afternoon Ritter was looking for a third surveyor experienced in pool work to check against the Patrell and MH Engineering surveys.
Recreation Manager Julie Spier said the pool measurements were checked “every step of the way” as required for USA Swimming certification.
Ritter said several factors may have contributed to the differences between the two surveys. Patrell did it the easy way, when the pool was dry. MH Engineering had to work with a poolful of water which made it more difficult to find the edge for a baseline.
“Also, MH Engineering had never surveyed a full pool before,” Ritter said, “and that may have been a factor.”
Having a too-long pool is easier to fix than having one too short, he said and there are several ways to deal with the problem should it prove to be real.
“We would probably drain the pool, remove the tile, add (the proper thickness of) plaster and return the tile,” Ritter said.
Touchpads could help, too. Touchpads are installed at the end of each lane to prove that competing swimmers actually reached the lane’s end. Between 3/8” and 3/4” they could make the problem go away by taking up extra distance. Patrell surveyed the pool without touchpads.
“The pool (length) is designed to include the touchpads and be certified,” Ritter said.
Spier said the city could definitely hire a third surveyor.
All three pools cost about $2.5 million, Ritter said, and the 50-meter pool at least $1 million. The entire center on Condit Road just north of Tennant Avenue cost almost $13 million, paid for by Redevelopment Agency funds and donations from businesses and private families.
Castro said he had an idea of how much it would cost to replaster and retile the pool ends but, since he was sure it would not come to that, he declined to say.
“It’s not likely to happen,” Castro said.
In the meantime, the Morgan Hill Swim Club is bidding on a sanctioned event for the Aquatics Center in August, Ritter said, and he must have an independent corroborating certification by next week or the pool won’t be eligible.
