New Pool Cover Installed

While ultimately a blessing, Camp Wawona’s Junior Olympic swimming pool can be a curse to keep clean. Each week staff must scoop out organic debris, dirt, and suicidal mice, all while trying to balance chlorine and PH levels.

Well no longer. Last week camp staff installed a new pool cover that will cut pool maintenance easily in half. Sure, water chemical levels must be monitored but overall water cleanliness just became a snap.

“I think it’s exactly what we needed,” said Jerrod Gabel, Camp Wawona’s Director of Maintenance. “It’s going to help keep the water clean and give us more time to work on other things.”

Installing the cover isn’t easy. Holes must be drilled into the concrete around the pool’s parameter and the special bolts that can rotate flush with the surface of the concrete when not in use must be installed.

The new cover, which was purchased with funds donated by Dr. and Mrs. Jack Sloan, will also assist in protecting the pool from thick ice, which can expand and crack the pool. It comes on the heels of a long winter spent chipping ice with poles, planks, and shovels so camp staff will have to wait another three seasons to see what the new cover is really made of. Still, covering the pool is just one more step Gabel’s plan to keep camp up and smoothly running.

The new cover is laid over the pool.

Jerrod Gabel installs a bolt in the cement.

Ryan Kloosterhuis assists.

The new pool cover (as seen from the low dive).