Ephrata pool struggles with closures

EPHRATA — The City of Ephrata reported a $5,000 loss in revenue due to fecal contamination in the city pool.

The pool closed five days during the year in separate incidents of contamination, said City Manager Wes Crago at a council meeting Wednesday.

"When we close, people don't come back," Crago said.

The most recent incident occurred Wednesday morning, when fecal matter was found in the 4-foot-deep area of the pool. To clean it in time for lessons Wednesday night would have cost $700 in chemicals, Crago said. The city decided to cancel the lessons instead.

"We didn't catch the person who did it," he said.

Crago said each incident costs the city $1,000 in chemicals and lost revenue.

Typically, the city deals with just one incident of contamination per year, Crago said. By the time the issue of repeated contamination is solved, just two weeks are going to be left in the pool season, he said.

Recreation, Tourism and Public Relations Director for the city of Ephrata Ray Towry said the city is encouraging pool employees to ask patrons whether their children have appropriate clothing or are completely trained.

They are going to make sure children were not ill the past two weeks prior to showing up at the pool.

"We're going to be much more diligent, much more persistent," Towry said.

Education helped decrease occurrences when Moses Lake faced a similar issue, he said.

In all of the incidents at the Ephrata pool, with the exception of the most recent, fecal matter was found in the zero-depth area, Towry said.

"Until yesterday, we thought we had a good idea of the demographic it was coming (from)," he said.

Plastic undergarments are sold at-cost for young children who do not have the appropriate clothing, and if cost is an issue, employees are willing to give them out for free, Towry said.

"The $1.50 or $2 it costs us is not worth having to clear the pool," he said.

In one incident, 200 people came to the pool for a swim meet for their last event of the year and the pool had to be closed, Crago said.

"We had no other options without putting the city at risk," Towry said.