Lipps pool to close until further notice
Jun. 16—One of the city of Lewiston's two public pools will remain closed until further notice.
Bert Lipps Pool is closed for maintenance and has remained closed since Monday, when it was supposed to be open for the summer season, according to a news release from the city that was distributed Wednesday. Earlier in the week, the city also announced in a news release that the pool was closed because of an imbalance in the water composition because of debris from the rain and flooding event last Friday.
Tim Barker, Park and Recreation director, said that while team members were addressing seasonal maintenance for the pool opening they saw more water loss than expected.
"In the interest of ensuring the pool's optimal functionality and safety for its users, we decided to close it while staff look into the cause of this," Barker said in a text message.
He also said that it's common for swimming pools to lose water because of wind, heat, humidity and evaporation. As of now, the sinkhole along 13th Street and the water loss of the pool are believed to be unrelated.
Although the Bert Lipps is closed, activities and employees at the pool will be moved to the Orchards Pool. The Orchards pool, located at 1301 Airway Avenue, is open and a schedule of pool events can be found at www.cityoflewiston.org/554/Orchards-Pool, including lap swims and family swim times. The fee is $2 per person and Saturday swims are free for families with children under the age of 16. Family and individual pool passes purchased at Bert Lipps Pool are accepted at Orchards Pool.
Bert Lipps Pool was opened in 1947 and was the city's first municipal swimming pool. The pool in the Orchards was opened in the 1960s. The Lipps pool is named after Wilberta Bliss Lipps, known as "Bert," who taught swimming lessons at the pool when it opened, according to the Historic Lewiston, Idaho Facebook page.
In addition to the pool being closed, the area of 13th Street beginning at Idaho Street is closed because flooding caused a sinkhole in the area, which is near Bert Lipps Pool. The sinkhole is at least 40 feet long and is 2-3 feet wide and sits 2-3 feet from the side of the road along 13th Street by the park area by the Lipps Pool. The sinkhole is full of sandy material along with broken pieces of pavement.
A sinkhole is a depression in the ground that has no natural external surface drainage, so when it rains all the water stays inside the sinkhole. They are most common in regions where the type of rocks under the surface can be dissolved by water, including salt beds, gypsum, limestone and carbonate rock. When rainwater moves through the soil the rocks dissolve creating underground spaces and caverns. The land will often stay intact for a period of time as the underground caves form until they become too big and collapse under the weight of the land above, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
There is no database of sinkhole collapses in the U.S. but it is estimated the damage has cost an average of $300 million in the U.S. every year for the last 15 years, according to the same source.
Lewiston Mayor Dan Johnson declared a local disaster emergency following the widespread flooding that occurred last Friday. The declaration will activate the response and recovery aspects of all applicable local disaster emergency plans. It will also enable aid and will remain in effect for seven days, according to a news release from the city Wednesday. The amount of funding will be determined later as the damage is still being assessed, according to Carol Maurer, public information officer for the city.
The declaration was issued in response to the hazardous conditions resulting from the flooding caused by a thunderstorm, which dropped 0.64 inches of rain in 23 minutes, according to the National Weather Service of Spokane. Nez Perce County Chairman Don Beck also signed a disaster declaration in support of the city's recovery from the flooding.
Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.
