Back in the swim

By Kath Gannaway
THE Seville outdoor pool has been given a two-year reprieve with urgent repairs in the pipeline to ensure it opens this summer.
Yarra Valley Water delivered an ultimatum to the Shire of Yarra Ranges enforcing its Stage 3a restrictions which allow existing pools to be topped up only in accordance with an approved Water Conservation Plan.
The plan for Yarra Ranges is contingent upon there being no leaks in the pool structure or pipe work.
Other pools which will need to be “leak-proofed” include Warburton and Healesville.
Yarra Valley Water spokesperson Emma Hiller said the council would also need to regularly monitor the pools to ensure there were no further leaks and put in other water saving initiatives such as water efficient shower heads, dual flush toilets and sweep pool surrounds instead of hosing.
“We understand the value to the community of council pools and have been working with council to balance community expectations and use, with the loss of water form the aging pools.
Putting the onus firmly back on the shire Ms Hiller said keeping all of the pools open was not tenable if the council was unable to rectify the current loss of water from many of the older pools.
“It is a council decision as to whether or not the repairs are warranted,” she said.
The Shire says it plans to have all its pools open for the coming season.
“The council will be working towards having all its outdoor pools open in time for the summer season,” Community Relations Manager James Martin said.
Mr Martin said work to be undertaken included replacement of some pipes at Healesville and the filtration system and some pipes at Seville. Work was also needed at Warburton.
“We will be writing to Yarra Valley Water to notify them of the work to be undertaken with the expectation that we will receive approval to fill the pools,” he said.
In a perverse twist of fate, the urgent repairs will buy some time for the Seville Pool Township Group (SPTG) to fully investigate the options for the pool which has been under threat of closing for the past two seasons.
SPTG president Bill Dobson said discussions with Shire of Yarra Ranges’ Cr Graham Warren on Friday had resulted in a plan to make repairs to a filter pump and to pipes to meet Yarra Valley Water’s requirements.
The repairs, he said, would be partly funded by the Shire and from a $500,000 recreation allocation provided for the Seville community in the 2007 budget.
Cr Warren said last year the shire spent $60,000 on the pool and would spend about the same this year. “So, we would hope it would provide even more than two years of operation,” he said.
Mr Dobson said the group’s immediate concerns were that if the pool were to shut this season it would never re-open.
He said the immediate repairs would see the pool through for at least the next two years.
Mr Dobson said the SPTG was working with the shire to look at developing a master plan for the recreational needs of the Seville area and a survey would go out soon to residents of Seville, Gruyere, Mt Evelyn, Wandin and Silvan to canvas their thoughts on what residents want.
“If as we suspect there is a strong vote for the pool then we will either have the existing pool fixed in a staged process, or we are also looking at the possibility of getting a new pool somewhere down the track,” Mr Dobson said.