Increasing water pressure

When the weather cooperates, Capaha Pool still looks good to children who plunge down the three short water slides or splash around in the crystal clear water.

They don't see a nearly 46-year-old pool whose below-ground deterioration threatens to eventually close it.

"It doesn't look that old," said Jeremy Rector, 9, of Cape Girardeau, who ignored the overcast day and the forecast of rain to splash in the pool on Wednesday with his brother, 11-year-old Brandon Joyce. The boys live a short walk from the pool.

They don't see the aging pipes in the pump room. Water leaks constantly from a joint in a 10-inch diameter pipe that carries the water to the pool after it's pumped through a sand-and-gravel filter system beneath the concrete pool deck.

The city replaced sections of the underground piping system in the past six years to stop some major water leaks.

Pleasant surprise

The main pipe is joined by smaller pipes that recirculate pool water. Doug Gannon, who supervises operations at Capaha Pool and Central Municipal Pool, said he's surprised how well the pipes have held up.

"I can't imagine what keeps it together," he said. "You are talking about a lot of pressure flowing through the pipes."

Cape Girardeau city officials insist they weren't trying to scare the public into approving a tax package in April that would have funded a new water park and other city projects. The water park, envisioned to be built near the Osage Community Centre, would have replaced Capaha Pool whose aging water pipes in the pump room were shown in a PowerPoint presentation made to civic clubs all over town.

City officials said at the time they didn't know if the pool, which holds 360,000 gallons of water, would open this year.

Voters rejected the tax and fee issues, scuttling plans for a water park and other projects.

The pool opened Memorial Day weekend, but rain and the lengthy school year -- high school students serve as lifeguards -- have kept the pool from opening some days.

Parks and recreation department officials say it's an annual worry that the pool, built during the Eisenhower administration, will be hit with major breakdowns that will force it to close permanently.

"It hasn't gotten any better," said Dan Muser, parks and recreation director, who compares the pool to an old car. "A car reaches a certain age, and you know you are going to start having major problems."

Muser said the city has continued to patch up the pool and fix leaking pipes in recent years. But at some point, the repairs will become too costly to warrant keeping the pool open, he said.

Draining money

The pool, which is open through Labor Day, is a money loser even in the best of times. So is the Central Municipal Pool, which operates year-round.

Admission, concession and swimming lesson fees at Capaha Pool generate nearly $39,000 a year, about 56 percent of the nearly $70,000 cost to operate the pool from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Central Municipal Pool generates just over $143,000 in revenue, or 44 percent of its nearly $323,000 operating cost, Muser said.

Capaha Pool typically has over 26,000 visitors during the summer season. Central Municipal Pool attracts about 75,000 visitors over the course of an entire year.

The city could see less revenue this year because of a shorter summer vacation for Cape Girardeau public school pupils and June's unseasonably cool and wet weather, which has kept swimmers away, Muser said.

Gannon, who directs pool operations, said the city does a lot of maintenance to keep the pool looking good. "We've done painting. We've done scrubbing. We've done plenty of cleaning," he said.

Capaha Pool opened on Aug. 14, 1957, 23 years before the Central Municipal Pool opened on Clark Street.

Capaha Pool has its fans, many of them children who live within walking distance.

"I like it because it has a slide," said Jess Jenkins, 12, of Cape Girardeau as she and her friends played in the pool.

Devon Smith, 11, of Cape Girardeau said he'd hate to see Capaha Pool close because it would overcrowd an already crowded Central Municipal Pool.

Lifeguard Holly Pritchard of Cape Girardeau likes Capaha Pool. "I think it would be sad if they closed it down," the 17-year-old high school student said.

Pritchard said she and her family have been longtime users of the pool. She learned to swim there.

"Usually it is crowded in the summer," said Pritchard, as she watched a handful of children on an unseasonably cool, overcast day.

She likes the pool's relaxed setting in Capaha Park, where it is bordered by shade trees, a playground and picnic shelters, and can't imagine the city park without a pool.

The park has been home to a swimming pool since 1919.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123