TEPID BATHS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 March 1939, Page 6

TEPID BATHS

PROPOSALS FOR MASTERTON PLANS PREPARED

MODERN, WELL-EQUIPPED

BUILDING.

BOROUGH ENGINEER’S REPORT.

Plans for a modern, well-equipped tepid swimming bath for Masterton are to be placed before the Borough Council at tonight's meeting. Two proposals have been prepared by the Borough Engineer, Mr C. R. Mabson. The first, providing for a covered-in building embracing all fittings and plant considered essential to modern swimming pool sanitation and operation, is estimated to cost £18,693, and the second, providing for the construction of an open-air building, is estimated to cost £15,700. The estimated annual expenditure on the-first proposal is £3,141 and the estimated annual receipts £3OO. Mr Mabson’s report, which is to be submitted to tonight’s meeting of the council, states:— “Proposal No 1 is the comprehensive scheme which makes provision for practically every feature asked for by individual councillors, together with the provision of all plant, etc, considered essential to modern swimming pool sanitation and operation. The building is designed and estimated for, on the assumption that it is erected on the Trust Lands Trust sections at the corner of Dixon and Russell streets, the main entrance* fronting Russell Street; and that the building is set back approximately 15 ft from both street-frontages, which would be laid down in lawn and shrubs. This proposal provides for the constructional work:— “(a) The erection of a modern bath building 152 ft 6in long, by 109 ft in depth, constructed of reinforced concrete and steel. The floor level of the building is 3ft above the footpath level; this is done to save unnecessary excavation, and improve the architectural appearance of the building. From the plan it will be seen that the main entrance has four steps leading up to the double glass-panel doors; and above the entrance is a suspension verandah. Immediately inside, is the main vestibule and ticket office; to the right of this is the male attendant’s office, two large dressing-rooms, a set of steel lockers, two bathrooms, showers, footbath and conveniences. Across the end of the bath, provision is made for 15 lock-up cubicles, with an additional dressingroom at the back corner of the building. The ladies’ quarters are practically a duplication of the men’s side. Provision for a grandstand, accommodating 520 adult persons, has been made on the southern side of the pool. Beneath the grandstand, accommodation is provided for the filtration and heating plant, storeroom and laundry, clubroom and two additional dressingrooms for carnival use.

STANDARD LENGTH POOL. “(b) The pool is the standard racing length of 100 feet, arid is 42ft in width, giving seven racing lanes. The flooi, walls and coping of the bath is to be tiled in white, with black tile racing lines, distance and depth markings. Provision has also been made for tiling the floors of all bathrooms, showers and footbaths and walls of same up to a height of reven feet, to simplify cleansing. The depth of water m the pool which will contain laO,O(J(J gallons, will be as follows: 3ft 6in at the shallow end, sft 6in at 60ft, 9ft at 85ft (15ft out from deep end), and 7it at the deep end. the object of this arrangement being to give the non-swim-mer the greatest possible use of the bath and to provide the greatest depth where most needed for safe diving. The conventional type of scum-trough has been discarded in favour of the Candy Surflo system, which is a more efficient method of dealing with obnoxious floating matter.. With this system the freshly filtered and sterilised water re-enters the bath by means of a grating up the centre of the bath and extending the full length. This upward flow from the centre of the floor causes a surface flow (skimming action) to both sides, the' bulk of which flows over permanent weirs in the. side walls of the bath and returns the polluted water to the balance tank which serves to keep water in the pool at a constant level; from here it is pumped back through the filter and re-chlorin-ated.

FILTRATION & CHLORINATING. “(c) The filtration and chlorinating plant consists of a high-pressure filter capable of turning over the whole ol the water every 6 hours and is cleaned by air scouring and reversing the flow of the water through it. On the pool side of the pump there is a strainer to catch hair, paper or any other foreign matter which may have gained access to the pool. Prior to the water entering the filter, a chemical coagulent is added (usually sulphate of alumina ( to assist in precipitating all the colloidal and suspended matter. Soda ash (carbonate of soda) is also added, to produce alkalinity. Automaticallycontrolled apparatus is provided for accurately handling these chemicals. After leaving the filter the water passes through the heating plant and 1 hence to the enclosed type of aerator, for the purpose of removing odours from the water. The chlorination of the water is the last treatment given the water before it is returned to the pool and, for' this purpose, the latest type of chlorinator is provided, controlable within very fine limits to prevent over or under dosage. The whole of the filtration and purification, plant referred to. is absolutely essential for any modern pool and has been included in the scheme.

HEATING 'ARRANGEMENTS. “(d) Provision has been made for healing the pool, shower water and laundry water by means of three gasfired boilers having a total heating capacity of 750,000 B.T.U.’s per hour. In order to use this method of heating, it will be necessary to lay a new main from the Bannister Street gasometer to the bath; to do this necessarily ’ increases the installation cost very considerably. “(e) The laundry equipment consists of an electric washing-machine with spin dry attachment, a gas copper for boiling towels, etc, a set of tubs and a set of drying racks and electric fan. One hand-operated wringer is provided at the east side of the pool, for the use of swimmers. “(f) The lighting arrangements are provided for as follows: Natural lighting for the pool is obtained by means of the provision of 32 side-wall sashes on' 1 the northern and southern walls immediately below the roof line. Ap-

proximately one-third of each of these sashes can be opened for ventilation purposes during the hot weather. Electric lighting is provided for throughout the entire building, including 14 floodlights over the pool, one flood-light over the diving board, and six underwater flood-lights. ,“(g) Equipment: The-'following accessory equipment is provided: A steelframed diving stand having a 3-metre diving board and two intermediatestep diving platforms; one 1-metre diving board 16ft long and hinged at the back end so that it can be removed while racing is in progress. A suctionsweeper is provided, for cleansing the bottom of the bath; together with the usual lifebelts, racks and cleansing gear. ESTIMATED COST. “The estimated cost of Scheme No I is as follows: Excavation and filling £259; buildings £10.565; pool £1092; tiling pool, etc £1547; filtration plant £2040; heating plant—gas £625; heating building £190; laundry equipment £93; drainage outfall 9in pipe £240, drainage sewers—4in pipe £150; water supply £200; miscellaneous equipment £181; electric light £451; gas-main from Bannister Street, 46cn of 3m £560; contingencies £500; total £ 18 693. “The estimated annual expenditure would be as follows: Loan charges. Interest and Sinking Fund, 7.1 per cent on £18,700, £1355; gas £850; electric light and power, £9O; maintenance plant £120; maintenance building £5O; wages, custodian, extra man and girl, £676; total £3141. "The estimated annual receipts based on present revenue being trebled, £3OO. OPEN-AIR SCHEME. “Scheme No 2 is a modification of Scheme No 1, the bath being converted to an open-air type and, briefly stated, comprises the elimination of the main roof over the pool; the 1 e-con-struction of the roof over the remainder of the building, including the extension of the cantilever roof over the grandstand to the edge of the pool, and the elimination of the two underground dressing-rooms and Club room. This would reduce the cost by £2989. The estimated cost of Scheme No 2 would then be £15,700. “While the cost of constructing a modern indoor tepid swimming bath may appear to be very costly and the annual financial commitments proportionately high, it is a service which should be judged solely from a financial aspect any more than Parks, open spaces or other recreational or social activities are judged from this viewpoint alone. A municipal swimming pool, if properly managed, is seldom the liability that other recreational facilities are, and should be looked upon as a public utility provided for the well-being of the citizens, and not treated morely as a trading undeitaking. In many country towns the facilities generally available to swimmers' are either pools in the rivers, or obsolete baths which, in spite of the e'fforts of those operating them to keep them reasonably safe and sanitary, are very far from satisfactory. The importance of swimming in the life of every community has recently been recognised by the Government when it instituted the Learn to Swim Campaign and undertook to appoint swimming instructors and assist local bodies financially with the construction of new baths if funds are available. This was not done because it is a new craze, but because the Government is desirous that every man, woman and child should be given the opportunity to learn to swim under .safe and hygienic conditions, in an attempt to reduce the great loss of life which occurs in New Zealand every year as a result of drowning.

IMPORTANCE OF STERILISATION. “The more attractive and up-to-date the pool and building is made, the more popular it will be with the public. As previously stated, every modern swimming-bath should include complete filtration and sterilising plant arid, before deciding on chlorination, all other modern methods of sterilisation were considered, but had to be discarded on account of the high installation and operating cost. In considering the erection of a swimming-bath, the size of the community to be served will naturally be a guiding factor, especially from a financial viewpoint; however. when considering the pros and cons of heating the water it should be borne in mind that experience abroad indicates that the attendances are invariably doubled, and often trebled when the water is heated. The efficiency of the filtration plant also has an appreciable effect on the attendance at any bath, for the average person will naturally shun any bath containing dirty, germ-laden water which might constitute a potential danger to the health of the swimmer. The Ministry of Health in England today insists that the standard of purity of the swim-ming-bath water should at all times be equivalent to that of drinking-water, and this is the standard provided for in the scheme before you. In conclusion, gentlemen. I would like to state that these schemes do not incorporate any lavish or unnecessarily expensive feature, but provide for a standard in keeping with modern practice only.”