Additional testing needed for Quincy pool

QUINCY — Excavation for the new Quincy Aquatic Center is going to require some additional soil sampling first. 

Parks and Recreation Director Russ Harrington said in an earlier interview that city officials hope to start work on the pool this summer, possibly in May or June. But the city may have to make some changes to the project before starting to move dirt, due to the possibility of subsurface contaminants.  

The Quincy City Council approved a contract for about $34,700 to pay for the work; results should be available by the end of this week. Test holes were drilled at three locations around the lap pool, at the building housing the pump and four locations in the area where the pool will be built, which was a softball field.  

Quincy City Administrator Pat Haley said the problem did not originate in the park. A nearby business that distributed agricultural chemicals was required to do some cleanup due to possible groundwater contamination. 

“The flow of contamination is being monitored in groundwater testing wells at East Park in the same location as our pools,” Haley wrote in answer to a question from the Columbia Basin Herald. “The soil testing is to find out if there is any effect on excavation that is needed for the lap pool. Depending on the results we may need to provide additional measures to protect the groundwater since the water table there is very shallow. 

“Nothing is ever easy,” he added.  

Harrington said construction, once it starts, will take about a year.  

The new facility will have many of the same elements as the existing pool, including a lap pool and a water slide. A “lazy river,” which is a shallow-depth pool with a slow water current, is being added, along with a zero-depth entry pool that will deepen into a swimming area. There will be a new clubhouse and concession stand.  

The existing pool will be open in summer 2025, Harrington said, although people will have to park in a different location. Construction crews will be using the pool parking lot.  

The existing pool actually is two pools built at different times, the original community pool that’s now called the lap pool and a separate waterslide. The new pool combines all the activities in one space. 

It will be between the pump track built in 2022 and the site of the existing pool, further away from the irrigation canal that borders the park. Haley said in an earlier interview that the close proximity to the irrigation canal may have caused damage to the existing lap pool.  

“We know there’s hydraulic pressure from the water level in the canal,” Haley said. “The water in the canal pushes the water in the soil and puts pressure on the sidewalls on the swimming pool, and it creates leakage.” 

Water use at the pool indicates there’s a leak somewhere.  

“We’ve managed that water supply over the summer, but we’re losing a million gallons of water every summer through a leak that we can’t find,” Haley said. “We just decided, let’s move away from that problem and move it to a better location.” 

The new pool requires removing the existing softball field, which was the only softball field with lights in town. City officials plan to move the softball field to Lauzier Park on 13th Avenue Southwest, with the goal of having it ready for use as soon as possible, Harrington said.  

    The new pool will still be in East Park but will not be as close to the irrigation canal.