BY
DAVID RICHARDS - EDITOR@SIERRASTAR.COM
Within 48 hours, the pool inside the Baker Swim Complex
filled with 500,000 gallons of water, most of which came from Yosemite
High School wells
DAVID RICHARDS
The Baker Swim Complex, which was filled with water last week, is
scheduled to be completed by the second week of August.
PAT
ALTHIZER/MOUNTAINTOWNPHOTOS.COM
Crews used 500,000 gallons of water to fill the pool. Work on the
facility began in late 2003.
In late 2003,
on the 100-acre campus of Yosemite High School, it was simply a
bare piece of land situated near the baseball fields and the agriculture
facilities.
Less than a year later, that has changed.
The same land is now home to the Baker Swim Complex, an elaborate
aquatic center that will be frequented by YHS water polo teams in
the fall and YHS swim and diving teams in the spring.
It will also be open to the community at various times during the
year, providing a public pool to a town where one simply didn’t
exist.
The complex is near completion and project officials expect it to
be ready to open by the second week in August.
Last week, the pool was filled.
On Friday, the water was a bluish-green color, all 500,000 gallons
of it, and the temperature was just a little bit warmer in the shallow
end. The deep end temperature was mild — not too hot — not too cold.
Crews worked on a strenuous, 48-hour timeline once the first gallons
of water entered the pool because of risk of the plaster cracking,
said Scott Matson, project superintendent.
Water used came mostly through the wells of Yosemite High School,
complemented by water from outside sources brought in by the truck
loads.
The hoses hooked up to the YHS wells at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, although
the hoses seemed to go dry after six hours because of an electrical
problem.
The problem was later fixed, but water trucks were already on the
way to help out with the cause.
Matson said that no Hillview water was used to fill the pool. Last
week, Madera County Sheriff John Anderson issued a statement ordering
customers using water from Hillview to scale back on its use because
of a shortage.
The statement does not apply to residents in the Mountain Area not
using Hillview water.
“No water came from Hillview,” Matson said. “That was a heck of
a coincidence, though.”
The pool was filled by roughly 10 a.m. Friday, three and a half
hours before the deadline.
Matson said the pool contractor will spend a week and a half putting
chemicals in the pool and balancing it, before the facility is ready
to open.
“Right now, we’re just about on schedule,” Matson said. “We were
actually very pleased with the way everything went.”
Matson added that even though the pool is now filled, it is not
open and the site is under full-time security.
A community grand opening is scheduled to take place shortly after
the project is complete.
Pat Althizer
contributed to this report.
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