Bowman Gray Pool to reopen

After eight months of making do without an on-campus indoor pool, swim groups will finally have access to one.

The Bowman Gray Indoor Pool, which has been closed since January due to repairs, will reopen Tuesday.

The pool was closed last semester due to peeling paint on the ceiling, and it remained closed because of a broken water pipe.

Brandon Thomas, communications director for facilities services, said the total repair project of the broken pipes cost the University $173,000.

Last semester, lifetime fitness swim classes never had the opportunity to swim. Instead, they played games like Ultimate Frisbee.

UNC’s club swim team had to find alternatives as well.

“Last semester we had to go off campus, which was really hard because we don’t have that many cars,” said Jackie Vincent, president of the club swim team.

Vincent said her team was not able to use the varsity team’s pool. This semester, the team has been practicing in the Kessing Outdoor Pool near Carmichael Residence Hall.

Becca Battaglini, director of lifetime fitness and physical activity programs, said LFIT swim classes this semester have also been using the Kessing Outdoor Pool.

But starting Tuesday, the club team and LFIT classes will use the indoor pool instead.

The pool, which was built in 1938, closed previously for a yearlong renovation in 2009.

It was open for a little more than a year before closing again in January because humidity caused large strips of paint to fall off the ceiling, potentially exposing asbestos and lead.

“The humidity in that building is like a greenhouse,” said Patrick Barrett, research operations manager for the department of exercise and sport science.

“(The paint job) wasn’t done correctly the first time,” he said. “Additional work was needed to fulfill the contract.”

Then, as the pool was about to reopen this summer, a main water line burst while it was being refilled.

Problems with the pool’s filtration system further delayed its opening.

Barrett added that there are still parts of the pool that have been there since 1938, but there is no available funding to update the facilities.

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