Draining of pools closes book on Trials
Omaha News - Journal Online
BY JUDITH NYGREN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The Qwest Center Omaha is getting its land legs back, after 2,500 feet of fire hoses drained the competition pool Tuesday, the final stage to closing down the 2008 Olympic Swim Trials. Omaha fire engine No. 3 pulled into the arena late Tuesday morning to hook up hoses. A large crew was already busy nearby in the convention center dismantling the warm-up pool, which was emptied Monday.
Trevor Tiffany of Myrtha Pools, the company that provided the two 50-meter pools, said no problems arose during the draining of the warm-up pool. All went well with the draining of the competition pool as well. The pools didn't leak during the 40 days they sat full in the arena. "Not a drop," Tiffany said. And the floor beneath them appeared to be in good shape. The weight of 2 million gallons of water had no impact, said Tiffany, the president of Myrtha Pools U.S.A. He has been in Omaha for the past two months overseeing the pools. On Thursday, Tiffany said, the last of five trucks will arrive to pick up pool parts. The pools will be re-installed in Richmond, Va., where they will be the centerpieces at an aquatic center that the Poseidon Swimming Foundation hopes will serve as a national hub or the swimming world. The Omaha Sports Commission spent about $1.5 million to install the portable pools, about twice what it expected to pay. Poseidon officials aren't saying how much they paid for the pools. But the completed aquatic center will cost about $8 million. Poseidon needs only the 50-meter competition pool and a 25-yard section of the warm-up pool. It is talking to other groups interested in buying the remaining section of the warm-up pool, a Poseidon official said. Even as firefighters arrived to hook up their pump, Qwest Center crews were pulling down swimming banners, reconfiguring arena chairs and cleaning floors. The next time the public steps inside the arena, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will be on stage for a July 20 concert. Dismantling of the pools began as soon as competitors got out of the water for the last time Monday.
The first step was adding chemicals to remove the chlorine. After checking and re-checking water quality, Assistant Fire Chief Steve Wagner declared it purer than what Omahans drink from their taps. The warm-up pool's entire million gallons went through the city's sewer system on its way to the Missouri River. Most of the water from the competition pool also drained into the sewer system. But first, Omaha firefighters diverted 50,000 to 80,000 gallons into the lake on the ConAgra campus as part of a training drill. The lake was too full from recentrains to handle the pool's full contents, Wagner said Greg Stoffer, an Omaha fire apparatus engineer, said the drill allowed firefighters to practice two skills: drafting, or extracting water from a basin or pit by hard suction; and relaying, or connecting hoses over a long distance. Firefighters have to use these skills in certain parts of the city, where some structures are up to half a mile from the nearest fire hydrant, Stoffer said. Firefighters used two fire engines Tuesday to run hoses out the back of the Qwest Center downtown, through a parking lot, across Riverfront Drive and up and over grassy knolls to the eastern end of the ConAgra lake. There, near the boat dock, firefighters monitored the pool water as it created a fountain to entertain noon-hour joggers and picnickers.
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Contact the writer: 444-1116, judith.nygren@owh.com
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