By CORINNE BOYER
Every summer since 1922, locals and tourists have flocked to Garden City’s Big Pool. Once promoted as “the world’s largest outdoor free concrete municipal swimming pool,” it holds around 2 million gallons of water. “Holds” might now be an overstatement.
The Big Pool leaks. A lot.
Garden City’s Big Pool, nearly a century old, loses 200,000 gallons of water a day.
CORINNE BOYER / KANSAS NEWS SERVICEAround 200,000 gallons of water from the pool seep into the ground per day — even after renovations that replaced pipes and sealed cracks in the concrete.
Even for a pool of its size, the water loss is “excessive,” according to Fred Jones, Garden City’s water resource manager. “It’s kinda to the point where we feel like it’s probably nearing the end of its service life.”
As the pool’s centennial nears, concern over costs and repairs have grown. The city has been asking residents this year about replacing it, though nothing’s been decided yet.
(Read more: Great Bend Post)