Whitworth Pool reopens to swimmers

Swimmers are delighted to get back into the water after leaks that caused Whitworth Pool to be closed have been repaired.

In June, Rossendale Leisure Trust discovered there was a serious problem when a bill for £57,000 for water was received from United Utilities.

The pool was immediately closed and investigations began to determine the leak, or leaks, but initially there was no evidence either inside or outside the premises where the water was escaping.

Facilities Manager Mark Kay said: “A lot of people don’t realise just how much water there is in a swimming pool - there is around 75,000 gallons. If the water drops by 1cm, that is 500 gallons of water.

“The pool is a significant size of water so there is always some wastage through evaporation but not as much as what we had.

“When it had got to its worst point the pool was leaking 2.5cm an hour. The contractors found two major leaks, one was in an underground pipe which they were able to re-route, and the other was in the skimmer line at the top of the pool.”

Throughout the pool’s closure, salaried Leisure Trust staff were kept on to keep the gym open or transferred to work in other Trust facilities.

While the pool was out of use, the trust refurbished the interior and resurfaced the side of the pool.

Once the main pool was water tight it was able to reopen in time for half-term fun sessions.

It will be open again for the 12 schools from Rossendale and Rochdale that use the pool for swimming lessons and Whitworth Swimming Club which meets on two nights.

Mark said the repair cost £15,000, because of the extensive investigations that had to be carried out to source the problems.

He said: “The local community has been wanting to know what has been going on as they are eager to get back to swimming. We have tried to reopen the pool as quickly as we could.

“We really appreciate the support and interest people have shown in the pool and we know how much it means to them. The main thing is that it is back open and we have isolated and repaired the problem.”

The smaller training pool is currently still out of commission.