The heater for the swimming pool at the Grand Island YMCA stopped working on Dec. 9. (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND – The heater for the Grand Island YMCA’s swimming pool stopped working on Dec. 9, CEO Chad Knight said Dec. 16.
Knight spoke at the Dec. 9 Grand Island City Council meeting concerning a proposed Aquatics Center that will be constructed in Grand Island as part of the Veteran’s Village Good Life District project. At that meeting, Knight mentioned that the heater had stopped working. Grand Island Public Schools Superintendent Matt Fisher mentioned in his report at the Board of Education meeting on Dec. 11 that the heater had stopped working.
“We’re still open. It’s just a cooler temperature,” Knight said about the swimming pool.
Knight said it could be up to three weeks, possibly mid-January, before the heater situation is resolved.
YMCA staff members are keeping the area around the pool warmer. A hose with hot water in it is being run into the pool.
Knight estimated that the temperature of the water in the swimming pool is 81 degrees, which is OK for competitive and lap swimmers. However, prior to when the heater stopped working, the water temperature was approximately 86 degrees, which is preferred by people using the swimming pool for therapeutic reasons.
The Grand Island YMCA opened in 1979, and the swimming pool has been the community’s sole indoor swimming pool since that time. Swim teams from Grand Island Senior High School and the YMCA swim team use the swimming pool, in addition to YMCA members who use the pool for various purposes ranging from lap swimming to swimming lessons.
