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Ritenour officials say pool at Ritenour High requires major drain repairs; cost estimate pending
Summary
District staff told the board the deep-water main drain at Ritenour High School failed decades ago and the county health department has denied a variance for continued operation; the district must install a code-required drain or consider removing the pool. A contractor has engineered a scope but a budgetary cost estimate is still pending.
Ritenour School District staff told the Board of Education that the deep-water main drain at Ritenour High School’s pool must be replaced after county inspectors declined to renew a long-standing variance. The district says a replacement will require extensive demolition and pipe work; an engineering study is complete but a dollar-cost estimate is not yet available.
Facilities director Mr. Smith reported the problem dates to about 15 years ago, when the original deep-water return drain failed and the district covered the floor with a concrete skim coat to allow continued use. St. Louis County Health Department granted the district an annual variance for many years, but when the district sought permits last summer the county declined the variance and told district staff they must install a proper main drain to receive a permit. District staff said they persuaded the county to give the district one year to complete the work.
Landmark Aquatic (formerly West Port Pools) prepared an engineering plan. The work described to the board includes draining the pool; saw-cutting and removing a roughly 3-foot-by-25-foot trench in the pool floor to access and replace piping; coring through the pool base from the boiler room; replacing main drain piping; reconnecting to the surge tank and filters; trench reinforcement; concrete replacement; and plaster repairs.
District staff recounted prior pool-related work in recent years: a heat-exchanger replacement (~$35,000), replastering (about $100,000), and replacement of three pool boilers (about $335,000). The facilities director said the district is still awaiting a budgetary opinion for the drain replacement and does not yet have an overall projected cost. The board was told that, because the drain is required by county code, the work is necessary to maintain a permitted pool.
Staff said the work could weaken or “reboot” portions of a 55-year-old pool structure and cautioned that the district will not guarantee the pool can reopen for the next school year even if work begins quickly. The board discussed alternatives, including eliminating the pool to create instructional space.
Athletics staff signaled a desire to begin repairs as soon as funding and contract authorization are in place; staff noted classes that use the pool could be modified and that virtual aquatic instruction or scheduling adjustments are possible during construction. The facilities director requested board authority to proceed with Landmark Aquatic to oversee the installation once a budgetary opinion is received.
Board members asked whether alternative circulation mechanisms were acceptable; the facilities director said the county inspector told him a main drain is required by code and that the district would not be granted a permit without it.
