Falling concrete forces pool closing

Pump room repairs will start Tuesday, should take a week.

LAKE WORTH — Chunks of concrete the size of sandwiches falling from the Lake Wor t h Muni c i p a l Po o l ’s pump room ceiling have forced the city to close the facility for temporary repairs.

“We don’t want one of our employees getting hit,” said Juan Ruiz, the city’s director of leisure services. “There are pieces that are barely hanging on.”

After a recent safety and risk analysis inspection by Ben Few & Co., it was determined that the pump room posed a dangerous, and possibly even life-threatening, hazard to city employees, Ruiz said.

Only city staff members have access to the room.

“I wouldn’t walk in there without a hard hat,” Ruiz said.

Repairs will start Tuesday and should take about a week. The cit y expects the pool to reopen shortly after that.

It will cost about $3,500 for the work, Ruiz said.

“This is just a temporary fix,” he said. “We’ll install a drop-down ceiling made of plywood for now.”

At some point, Ruiz said, the city will hire a structural engineer to come up with a more permanent solution. He said he had no idea how much that would cost.

“This structure is over 40 years old,” Ruiz said. “Father Time is catching up with it.”

The pump room is the hear t of t he pool operation and must be entered on a daily basis to check for proper water chemistry and to ensure that equipment is working properly.