Homestead Aquatic Center temporarily closed due to pool leak

The Homestead Aquatic Center closed on Jan. 17 due to the largest leak the pool has ever had.

Jim Orr, director of the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation Department, said the center, located at 300 Aquatic Drive, is temporarily closed to fix the leak.

He said the center has never had a leak as extensive as this one.

Orr said a leak was suspected when a water bill was much higher than normal in November, and that this meant that water was escaping.

“The leak could not be seen from walking around the pool, but there was a huge spike in our water bill,” Orr said.

He said Aquatic Resource Group, a company based out of Charlotte, performed leak detection tests by inspecting the pool’s surface area.

“(Aquatic Resource Group) came highly recommended and had a lot of references locally,” Orr said.

Orr estimated the pool will reopen in three weeks, but he does not know exactly.

“All we have right now is an estimated time based on a company that has done leak detection tests,” he said.

Orr said the town will provide a schedule update as soon as the pool reopens.

“I feel confident in the three week window,” Orr said.

Orr said the parks and recreation department is waiting on a procedure to be completed by the Aquatic Resource Group before the cost of the repair is known.

“We were hoping to know the cost today, but are still unsure,” he said.

According to the Town of Chapel Hill’s website, Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation pool pass holders can go to other pools while this one is closed — including the Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA, the UNC Campus Recreation Bowman Gray Memorial Pool and the Orange County Sportsplex.

Nate Davis, supervisor of the Hargraves Community Center, said the A.D. Clark Pool, located at the center, is seasonal and cannot be used by the displaced swimmers.

Lizzie Burrill, supervisor of the Chapel Hill Community Center located at 120 S. Estes Drive, said the community center pool has been more crowded since the Homestead Aquatic Center closed.

“We’ve had to move a lot of high school swim teams and water aerobics programs over to the community center and we have had to extend our hours,” she said.

Burrill said the repair is necessary, but it came with some inconveniences.

“It’s unfortunate that this happened during high school swim team season, but it is important,” Burrill said.

She said the lanes had to be divided in a different way to accommodate the influx of swimmers.

Burrill said the staff is not too upset about the extension of hours because the Homestead Aquatic Center staff members were able to share the hours.

“Fortunately, we share staffing between the two sites so we were able to move staff members from the home site over to the community pool,” Burrill said.

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