Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
June 7 , 2007
The opening of the Julia Butler Hansen Municipal Swimming Pool will be delayed, Cathlamet Mayor Dick Swart announced this week.
Swart said the delay is caused by complications encountered in the town’s major cleaning, repair, and painting project at the Greenwood Road water reservoir.
"Removing hardened scale and corrosion in the tank’s interior proved to be more time-intensive and costly than expected," Swart said. "Until the work is completed, the tank cannot be filled and the water tested for sanitary compliance. The pool cannot be filled until Greenwood is back on line."
Town officials have rescheduled the pool opening for June 15.
“Delaying opening the pool is disappointing to our patrons and their families," Swart said. "It is certainly frustrating to the town. We pushed the envelope in starting work on Greenwood during chancy weather, weeks earlier than originally planned, in order to get our customers off water conservation and guard against delaying opening the pool.
"Unfortunately, scale removal took more time than even our most pessimistic scenario predicted. Our contractor, Western Industrial, Inc.,simply could not have started any earlier, due to weather and temperature conditions.”
Pool Manager Lynette Ledgerwood said the delay will cause her to make adjustments to the schedule for swimming lessons. She plans to offer three sessions of swim lessons this season.
“Swimming lessons for children are one of the main reasons the pool was built and funded over the decades," she said in a news release from the town. "We will put a notice in The Eagle and the Chinook Observer when we get things set.”
With the reservoir off line, customers of the town and Wahkiakum PUD's Puget Island Water System need to continue with water conservation, Swart said.
“I would like the public to know that our public works staff have been carrying an extra load to manually operate the water system around the clock while half the water capacity is offline during repairs at Greenwood,” Swart said. “And, I am asking our Cathlamet and PUD Puget Island customers to make a commitment to voluntarily conserve water until Greenwood tank is back on line. The water system is barely keeping pace now during pleasant weather.
Domestic uses like food preparation, bathing and laundry are fine, Swart said. Tasks like irrigating lawns and washing sidewalks, decks, cars and so on should wait, he said.
Updates on the pool’s opening will be posted on the Town’s Web Site at
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