PORT ANGELES — Energy savings realized as part of $2.1 million in 2013 improvements at William Shore Memorial Pool have yielded monetary benefits — and helped boost pool attendance by 23 percent, the director said.
Steve Burke, executive director of the William Shore Memorial Pool District, said this week that pool visits increased from 65,000 annually in 2013 to 80,000 in 2014, due largely to the elimination of eye-burning chlorine from the water system.
Attendance at the pool, the only public one in Port Angeles, has stayed at 2014 levels this year, Burke said.
Meanwhile, annual pool attendance has grown more than threefold from 25,000 in 2009, when the facility was saved from extinction by coming under the umbrella of a voter-approved tax district.
Recent improvements
The levy that came with district formation helped pay for improvements that drove up attendance.
Chlorine was replaced with a purified form of sodium chloride that acts as a disinfectant.
Pool water also now courses through new piping equipped with ultraviolet lighting that kills bacteria and viruses.
“There are just a lot of people that have reactions to chlorine that people don’t get when you have a salt-generator pool,” Burke said Wednesday.
Beaverton, Ore.-based Abacus Resource Management Co., the project contractor, was required to monitor the pool facility’s energy use for two years after the installation of all the improvements.
Abacus guaranteed annual energy savings of $44,000 as a result of the improvements.
Energy savings
Burke said actual first-year energy savings totaled $51,000 in 2013 and $70,000 in 2014.
All energy-related equipment at the pool was replaced.
A new air-handling unit now recovers enough heat to heat the entire facility, including the pool.
The boiler that once heated water for the entire facility now kicks into gear only when the pool is being refilled.
The air-handling equipment was installed for $350,000, including piping and installation.
Burke said the pool was spending $110,000 to $120,000 a year on energy and is now spending between $50,000 and $55,000.
“It is a great accomplishment when your contractor exceeds the expectations and guarantees that were promised,” Burke said.
“We have seen our energy expenses reduced by over 50 percent, which enables us to use those savings to keep our prices low and increase programming.”
The energy savings are being used to pay back a $750,000 general obligation bond borrowed at 3.25 percent interest that was approved by Clallam County commissioners in April 2013.
It is also being paid back with existing levy funds collected at 17 cents per $1,000 of property valuation and revenue from pool memberships, lessons and exercise programs.
The energy-savings project was completed in partnership with the state Department of Enterprise Services.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
