The Justice

Media Credit: Max Matza The Linsey pool closed indefinitely last Tuesday. The swimmers and divers are practicing off-campus.

Severe heating, ventilation and piping issues within the Linsey pool building in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center may close the 41-year-old pool permanently because repairs and replacements could cost up to $1 million and other future problems are likely, Vice President of Campus Operations Mark Collins said.

"The prognosis is not good," Collins told the Justice in an interview, explaining that two weeks ago the second of the two heaters for the pool failed. The first heater failed a few months ago. At the beginning of last week the air handling system that heats and ventilates the pool building shut off completely.

The University "can't guarantee the reliability of the pool even after spending this money. … This is a very old facility that needs many dollars of work," Collins said.

Director of Athletics Sheryl Sousa said the Athletics department closed the pool indefinitely last Tuesday because the water temperature had dropped from its normal range of 78 to 81 degrees to 71 degrees, and the air temperature in the room is too cold.

Collins wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that engineers are doing reviews of the problems, which will take about six weeks.

"If the remediation costs are as high as I believe they are (the costs will be in the millions to fix all the problems), we do not have the funds available this fiscal year, and it is likely the funds will not be available in [fiscal year] 2010," Collins wrote in the e-mail.

Sousa said the swimming and diving team is currently practicing at Regis College and Bentley University and is "going with the worst-case scenario," that they will have to practice at these alternative locations for the rest of the season.

Collins told the Justice that the pool is definitely closed while the problems are being assessed because there is no heat in the pool or locker rooms and no regulation for the water temperature.

Parts and materials to replace the heaters are no longer readily available, Collins said, because they are outdated. Facilities is looking into re-engineering the parts, which would cost a couple hundred thousand dollars at minimum, he said.

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