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Ready to swim?

Area pools gear up for inspections, opening days

CHAD PLAUCHE-ADKINS The Marietta Times On Thursday, Jace Ward makes sure the water at the Marietta Aquatic Center is reading for its opening on Saturday.

With the Memorial Day weekend at hand, local pools are getting inspected and cleaned in order to be ready for them to provide hot-weather fun to people of all ages. But one local pool will be closed for the summer, forcing its village’s residents to travel to another location to battle the summer heat.

The McConnelsville Mayor’s Office reports that their pool will not be open this summer. They say that they received no interest in the pool manager job opening and only received two applications for lifeguards this year. The office said it wouldn’t be feasible to have the community pool in operation. The nearest alternative for the people of McConnelsville is the 20-minute drive to the Beverly-Waterford pool.

But there are also other locations in the area to splash the day away. Kelly Miller, registered sanitarian with the City of Marietta/Belpre Health Department said she is in full swing getting both the Marietta Aquatic Center and Belpre pool inspected and ready to be open by Saturday.

Jace Ward, head lifeguard at the aquatic center, said there is only one real problem getting his pool ready for the summer.

“Unpacking and finding everything from last year is hard,” he said.

Besides checking pump rooms and doing an inventory of equipment, Miller said there is one area of the annual inspection that requires particular attention.

“You have to check for all of the safety equipment,” she said.

She said she makes sure the pools have all the life-saving devices available to include first-aid kits, life preservers and signs that indicate specific risks at different parts of the pool.

Josh Lane, director of environmental health at the Washington County Health Department, said making sure warnings are in place is the most prevalent problem he sees when inspecting the public pools in the county.

“Signage is a standard problem,” he said.

He said at times the signs become faded from the sun and require change or have been taken down from the previous season and not put back up.

The announcement that McConnelsville won’t be opening its pool left Lane with three other public pools that still need to be inspected. The Beverly-Waterford and Lowell pools will be inspected by Saturday and the Devola pool will be inspected on Wednesday. The Beverly-Waterford pool is scheduled to open on Sunday with the Lowell pool opening its doors on Memorial Day. The Devola pool is set to begin its season on May 31.

Liz Zimmerman, manager of the Lowell pool, said the village has managed to keep the pool open even with the chronic problems that come with a 51-year-old facility.

“For the last decade it’s been a battle with the bottom of the pool,” she said.

She said over the last 10 years, the pool’s bottom has required a complete scraping and paint because the winter weather causes it to peel. She said the pool is worth all the effort her village puts into it year after year.

“There’s not a lot else for kids to do in Lowell,” she said.

For those Washington County residents that want to try and have some fun mountaineer style, the Williamstown pool will also be open on May 31. Barbara Miller, Williamstown City Council, member said the city is almost done preparing the pool for the summer.

“Everything passed inspection,” she said. “We’re doing the scrubbing now, getting it cleaned up for everybody.”

Area public pool’s opening dates.

•Beverly-Waterford pool: Sunday.

•Lowell pool- Monday.

•Devola pool- May 31.

•McConnelsville pool- Closed for season.

•Williamstown pool- May 31.

•Marietta Aquatic Center- Saturday.

•Belpre pool- Saturday.

• New Matamoras pool: Information not available.

Source: Times research.

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