Rain, Rain Go Away.....

Hi, Amanda, Jessica & Mariah here with another pool update. We should probably change that to a weather update. "Rain, rain go away come again another day" is the song the crew at North Fork has been singing for the last week or so. At our last update the concrete had been poured and it needed to cure or harden for about a week. Then they would be able to hang the gutter system and do some plumbing. After that the actual pool work would stop and they would start the above ground building of the Health & Aquatic Center. Well, with all of the rain that we have had the crews have not been able to procede. To quote Mr. Pete Margretta, Construction Manager with Dana B. Kenyon, "this is what is known as unforeseen delays". They need about two weeks of good weather so they can dry out enough to start putting up buildings. Apparently it is a real mess out there!

So, while we are waiting, we thought we would tell you about a couple of your new pool features. We told you about the zero entry in our first blog and how this will benefit our campers in wheelchairs; great for SMILE Camp. It will also have competition lanes and a recreational play area.

One of the features that will be really good for lane swimming is the perimeter gutter system. The gutter is a stainless steel system hung around the edge of the pool (see pictures). When water is pushed towards the edge of the pool it will go in through a grate (blue plastic on top, left) and into a main channel (big tunnel, left) where it will go to the pool filter system. Once it is filtered it will come back through a smaller channel (small tunnel, left) and back out into the pool through little jets (white plastic hole, right) that are spaced out around the pool wall. We know, HUH? What all that really means is you won't get a big wave of water pushed back at you when you come up on to the wall of the pool. NO WAKE ZONE!

The other really cool thing about your pool is that it is a green pool. NOT the yucky algae kind of green pool (eeeww), but an eco-friendly green pool. The pool will have a salt generation filtration system. Which means it will use salt to filter the water instead of a ton of chlorine. So, it will use a lot less chemicals which is so much better for our environment. It will also require less maintenance. You will really notice the difference when you jump in; no more yucky chlorine smell, no more bleached out swimsuits, no more going in with blonde hair and coming out with green hair (yes, it happens). But most of all, no more stingy, burning eyes. YEAH!

So remember when you are swimming in the pool that there is more than just the nice cool water that makes it a cool pool. More next time...

Ninja Scouts out.