No quick fix: Thames Pool needs two-year, $2M repair, city staff say

Repairing Thames Pool will cost at least $2 million and can’t be completed until 2025 at the earliest, city staff say.

There’s no guarantee the repairs would work, with the pool showing more signs of damage, staff say in a report going to London council’s community and protective services committee next week.

“There are certainly measures to assist us in trying to mitigate the risks of the site. But there is nothing that can remove all of the impacts of the location,” Anna Lisa Barbon, deputy manager of finance, said during a media briefing Wednesday.

“There are no assurances giving the given the groundwater on that site and potential flooding risk in the future,” she said.

There’s no guarantee the costs – a rough estimate at best – wouldn’t rise, the report concludes.

And there’s no guarantee weather and construction delays wouldn’t push the opening to 2026, the report says.

Meanwhile, damage to the pool slab is growing, the report says.

At Thames Pool, water flows through drain lines into filtration equipment then back to the pool via return lines. Both the main drain and return lines are below the pool slab, with piping buried in the soil or aggregate below and around the pool.

The pool sits on a floodplain and groundwater causes both upward pressure from water and freeze-thaw cycles that have caused damage every winter since 2016, requiring $238,000 in repairs, Barbon said.

The pool floor, or slab, has moved, pipes have failed and the base support of the pool has been compromised, the report says.

The pool, on Ridout Street near the Thames River. was closed in 2022, and after an assessment in the fall, staff recommended in April 2023 the pool be shut down for good.

That sparked a community outcry and council’s directive to staff to explore alternatives.
But the report presents a dim picture of those alternatives, and reveals further damage to the pool seen in an April assessment.

“Overall, the condition of the pool has deteriorated since the initial failure and the fall 2022 review,” Barbon said.

Cracks have widened and lengthened, there’s blistering on the slab from groundwater and sand has been pushed up from below the slab, the April assessment found.

A debris line from a March flood is higher than the debris line noted in 2022 from flooding.

The report outlines two repair options:

Option 1, costing at least $1.92 million, would return the underfloor piping to the same location as before and connected to existing piping along the walls. The main drain lines and return lines would remain under the floor.

But weeping tiles would direct water away from the pool. A site well would allow for visual inspection of water levels. Hydrostatic relief ports would discharge water that the weeping tiles couldn’t handle back into the pool tank.

“These are all basic mitigation measures,” the report says.

Option 2, costing at least $2.23 million, would have the pool slab and sides excavated. Main drain lines would be replaced under the slab, but floor returns would be relocated to the side walls. The new piping could prevent movement and damage due to water levels and freeze-thaw cycles.

A weeping tile, site well and hydrostatic relief ports are also included in this option.

The catch is return lines can send water flowing into the pool’s outside lanes, putting competitive swimmers there at a disadvantage. That can be limited by installing return pipes at staggered heights along the wall and shutting them off during competition.

The costs are estimated from construction projects completed in 2020-21, and are rough estimate that don’t including consulting fees and contigency amounts.

“Tea . . . repairs are complex due to the proximity to the river, weather-sensitive construction and unknown variables, such as the substructure and unpredictable weather events,” the report says.

And the time required for detailed design, permits and consultation, public tendering, and weather-sensitive construction means “it would not be feasible for the pool to be operational for the 2024 season. Contingent on direction and funding, the earliest the pool could be open for use is 2025.”

But Barbon warned in the media briefing that delays and financing associated with construction could push the opening back to 2026.

“If the conditions end up being significantly unfavorable, that could create delays. There is a risk that it would not be open in 2025,” she said.

Built in 1927, Thames pool is the only 50-metre outdoor pool in the city and the busiest, with 25,000 people visiting a year.

The pool had to be rebuilt twice, undergoing extensive renovations in the 1980s and ’90s before the last multimillion-dollar project was completed in 2010.

The pool had to be closed in 2022.

In April, council asked staff to outline what would be needed to reopen Thames Pool in 2024, the earliest city staff said repairs could be completed.

Politicians also asked staff to bring a second report in 2024 detailing possible long-term solutions, including the viability of rebuilding or relocating the pool.

The second option has the support of Coun. Skylar Franke, whose Ward 11 takes in Thames Pool.

“It solves some of the problems for a little bit longer while we figure out the long-term solution,” she said.

“From what I’ve heard from constitute, it is worth the amount. I heard from the community that they want. . . aquatic opportunities within walking distance. People that live in Old South and downtown justifiably want to be able to use city resources within a reasonable distance.”

But the city has to figure out a long-term solution, Franke said.

“I will be very clear. This, to me, would be the final investment we put into the Thames Pool, because we’ve heard that the location, both from Upper Thames (River Conservation Authority) and consultants, is a bad location.”

Franke said she was disappointed to learn the pool may not reopen till 2026.

“People have been without a pool for a couple of years and it will be a couple of more years,” she said. “The community really wants something they can take their kids to and use to cool off in the summer.”

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