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Meador Pool Leak Identified, to Reopen in August

City of Springfield

Officials with the Springfield-Greene County Park Board say they’ve identified the source of a major leak at Meador Pool that has left the facility closed since late May.

Repairs to the damaged pipe will cost $153,000, the board said, which will be processed as an emergency expense. The price tag is said to be covered by its 2015-2016 general fund.

After weeks of examining hundreds of feet of plumbing with special cameras, the Park Board said in a statement on Thursday that the leak is from a pipe buried 15 feet below the surface.

The 12-inch cast iron pipe spanning between the diving well drain and the filter box is about 75 feet in length. Officials say it was the final and most difficult pipe to examine, due to its depth and that it was filled with silt and cloudy water.

In a statement, Assistant Director of Parks Miles Park said, “Although it took some time to find the primary and secondary sources of water loss, it was time well spent, because we were able to identify and locate all areas where the infrastructure of the swimming pool had failed."

The Park Board has hired Continental Pools, Inc., from Gardner, Kansas, to replace the main drainpipe, as well as additional pipes which have deteriorated over time. All these pipes are original to the 1964 construction of Meador Pool. Repairs require excavation of a portion of the pool shell beneath the 12-foot-deep diving well, as well as removal of the pool deck between the diving well and the filter house. In all, about 400 feet of pipe will be replaced.

“The scope of this project is beyond the scale our staff is effectively able to handle,” said Park. “We’ve worked with Continental Pools before on Fassnight Pool repairs and construction at Doling Indoor Aquatics, and they’ve worked at Meador before. We’re confident in their skills and they understand our desire to expedite repairs.”

The board says repair work began last week, but initial progress was impacted by rain. Repairs are expected to take 30 days, with the goal of reopening the pool sometime in August.

The board also expressed thanks to Drury University and Missouri State University, whose swim teams typically practice at Meador in early fall. The two universities have provided pool time this summer for Park Board swim teams displaced by the Meador closure.

Five other outdoor pools are currently open: Fassnight, Grant Beach, McGee/McGregor Wading Pool, Silver Springs and Westport. Each pool is open six days a week, with staggered maintenance schedules Monday-Wednesday.

Indoor swimming is also available at Chesterfield Aquatics Center and Doling Aquatics Center. And the Jordan Valley Park Ozarks Stream and Fountain is also operating daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Find more information about Springfield-Greene County Park Board pools, lessons and activates at parkboard.org/aquatics.

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