Water park closures affect cities' bottom lines

MOSES LAKE — August is usually the hottest part of the summer in the Columbia Basin, and it’s also the time municipal pools and water centers become a refuge for folks looking for a place to escape the heat.

But with the haze and smoke from summer wildfires hanging over Central Washington now becoming the norm, many municipal pools in the area have been closed as many days as they have been open in August, affecting the pools’ — and their cities — bottom lines.

“We’re all in the same boat,” said Quincy Recreation Director Russ Harrington. “Every day I monitor air quality and gauge where we are at.”

The Washington State Department of Ecology monitors air quality across the state, including in Moses Lake and Quincy, tracking for things as varied as particulate matter from smoke and chemicals such as sulfur dioxide and ozone (which are formed from the incomplete burning of fuel in combustion engines).

“We follow the recommendation of the Grant County Health District,” said Spencer Grigg, director of parks and recreation for Moses Lake. “If it’s 150 or above, we opt not to open the pool to protect employees and patrons.”

However, without a state monitoring site, Ephrata’s Parks and Recreation Department has developed a different standard to determine whether the city’s Splash Zone will open or not.

“If we can see both towers on Beezley Hills, we will open,” said Ephrata Director of Community Services Traci Bennett.

The closures also affect the pools’ bottom line. According to Grigg, Moses Lake’s Surf n’ Slide has been closed nine days in August, depriving the city of anywhere from $8,000-$12,000 of revenue each day they are closed — a big deal for an operation with an operating budget of $843,000 for 2018.