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Members of the Manchester Recreation Commission discussed issues that have been plaguing both the Recreation Center’s therapy pool as well as its outdoor pool during its recent meeting Thursday, Aug. 8.

Parks and Recreation Director A.J. Fox said that while there are issues with the therapy pool heaters, the water is clean, sanitized and okay for use. However, the water is colder than it should be.

“What we are being told is happening is the water passes through and it is hitting the heating element and calcifying and burning out the heating elements,” Fox said.

There are two heating units for the therapy pool, with six heating elements in each.

It is believed that the calcifications are hitting the heating element, falling to the floor of the unit and then building up to the point that it burns out the heating elements.

Fox said REA Inc. of Nashville said by backwashing the units every day, it should prevent the loose flakes of calcification from building up over time.

“If that doesn’t work, we may have to look at the water softener system we looked at before, which is about $30,000, but they want to try this first to see if that would fix the issue,” he said.

Manchester Parks and Recreation were also dealing with issues regarding its outdoor pool which Fox said was closed from about July 10-17 due to a sand filter malfunction.

“There are four sand filters that filter the water for that one pool,” Fox said. “We had one blew the manway off so that ended up flooding our pump room, out of all the pumps in there it only affected the one motor for that pool.”

The department capped that filter, and the pool is currently operating with three of its four sand filters.

“We talked to the health department about it and they said they are fine with it as long as our water quality doesn’t change,” Fox said. “They have tested, they water, they agree with it, so we are good there.”

A replacement motor, which was located in Chattanooga to have a new pump installed on it, was attached with an old pump and reconnected to the system.

Alderman Julie Anderson asked how many pool parties had to be canceled as a result of the pool closure.

“We moved some from outdoor to indoor, we canceled and refunded probably six I think that come to mind,” Fox said.

Anderson also asked if anyone canceled their membership as a result of the pool being closed.

Fox said he is not aware of anyone who has canceled their Manchester Recreation Center membership specifically due to issues with the facilities pools.

Board Member Prater Powell asked if the cause of the issues is the age of the facility.

“It is age and lack of maintenance, it is a combination,” Fox said. “It is lack of funding for maintenance is what it boils down to.”