Loose diaper sinks day at city pool

(Courtesy photo)

Things had been going along quite swimmingly this season at the Greencastle Aquatic Center.

After the first six days, total pool admissions had topped the 1,700 mark. Almost 1,000 people had made use of the splash park. And combined income from admissions and concessions had come up just shy of $18,000 (even without Thursday totals available) since a May 28 opening.

Then Thursday afternoon came along and a loose Pamper put a damper on things when the pool was forced to closed about 2:15 for a dirty diaper incident.

Apparently a youngster wearing a loose diaper in the pool caused fecal material to leak into the water, Greencastle Park Superintendent Rod Weinschenk told the Park Board Thursday night at its monthly meeting at City Hall.

A chemical had to be added to the filtering system because of the incident, which automatically requires the facility to be closed for two hours, Weinschenk said.

"The same thing happened Wednesday night," the park director said, although the matter then was found on the pool deck and not in the water where the solid material was deposited Thursday.

Park Board member Cathy Merrell initially raised the question about why the pool had been shut down during sunny, 80-degree weather Thursday afternoon after taking her children to the facility about the time it was ordered closed. She expressed how disappointed her youngsters were.

The pool reopened at 5:30 p.m.

"It's very, very frustrating," Weinschenk acknowledged, noting that free passes had to be given to several people who had paid to get in but were only in the water for a few minutes.

Weinschenk said he plans to post signage urging parents to make sure that if their youngsters are still in diapers, they are also covered by snug-fitting shorts whenever they enter the water.

While that was the bad news, the pool also produced some good news with income and admissions reported up over the average first week of operations.

"The first two weeks makes or breaks us," Weinschenk said. "Having 80-degree weather the first weekend really helped us. We've been really busy."

The pool's busiest day has been the Monday, May 30 holiday when 421 people came through the gates. Wednesday, June 1 was close behind with 416 admissions.

The biggest splash park day to date came Thursday when 250 took advantage of a free visit to the facility at Robe-Ann Park.

Meanwhile, in other pool-related news, the first outdoor swim meet since the pool was built in 1993 is scheduled for this weekend. Action is set to begin at 9 a.m. and go through noon. Warm-ups are at 8 a.m.

Three teams and 70 swimmers are expected to participate, Weinschenk reported.

Should the meet be delayed by weather, the pool will open for the public whenever swim meet action is fnished for the day, the park director noted.