Press Release – Grass Roots
Opinion: The grassroots movement to save Oak Ridge’s big pool
A group of dedicated Oak Ridgers is doing its best to make sure this year’s closing of the Oak Ridge Outdoor Pool isn’t the last for the magnificent, historic facility.
The effort began as talk of plans to change or replace the “big pool” circulated in the news and evolved into a 3,700-member grassroots movement on Facebook called “Save the Oak Ridge Pool.” The page’s goal is to educate the public and to urge lawmakers to ensure the pool – in its full, grand size – remains a treasure for the community and visitors for years to come.
Members of the group have met with City Manager Randy Hemann and Assistant City Manager Tom Pessemier, sent a letter to them, and sent emails to City Council members urging them to support protecting the pool.
This photo of the Oak Ridge Outdoor Pool, taken in August 1947, shows native Oak Ridger Don Batchelor at age 25 months with his mother, Mildred. Don is now 79. His father, Marvin, worked at the Y-12 plant, and mother Mildred worked at both Y-12 and X-10 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory).
These efforts may have bought the pool some time. This summer, City Council took no action on the pool, and decided instead to spend another $50,000 to study the problem further before making a decision on the future of the pool complex.
According to minutes taken at various Oak Ridge Recreation and Parks Department meetings, the primary problem with the pool is that it faces escalating maintenance challenges. In 2021, a significant leak of approximately 75,000 gallons per day was discovered. Alarmingly, this leakage has been increasing at a rate of about 10% per year, reaching an estimated 110,000 gallons per day by 2024. Chris Melhorn, a member of the Recreation and Parks committee, recommended camera inspections of the drainpipes to identify potential failures, but these crucial inspections have not been carried out.
The city inspects and seals hairline cracks and fractures prior to the beginning of each season. Periodically, a waterproof coating is applied to the entire basin. The primary concern appears to be water loss through the pool’s plumbing system, rather than the pool shell itself. While some reports suggest the pool is nearing the end of its useful life, experience shows that such facilities can have extended lifespans with proper maintenance. Moving forward, it’s crucial to conduct the long-overdue inspections and a comprehensive assessment to accurately evaluate repair options before considering more costly replacement plans.
Meanwhile, surveys presented at City Council meetings last winter showed that most city residents who use the pool like it just as it is – though they’d like to see it operate for longer hours, offer more exciting concessions, and add some more amenities, like water slides and other fun things for kids.
At a public meeting in March, most residents surveyed wanted to keep the basic feel of the historic pool and remediate it, instead of moving it, or replacing it with something smaller, like a mini-water park.
There are few public places in Oak Ridge that generate as much support and enthusiasm during the summer months as the Oak Ridge Municipal Swimming Pool. From old-timers who remember their first swimming lessons there, to newcomers who bring their families for a day-long outing, no place builds community like the historic, beloved pool.
“The majority of our members want to preserve the historic feel of our pool,” says Denise Dunlap Billings, a native of Oak Ridge and founder of the Facebook group. “We have many current and former Oak Ridgers in the group, but we also have a lot of people who live in other areas who drive miles and miles to swim in our pool. Large municipal swimming pools are increasingly rare, and ours is special to everyone who visits it, even once.”
“The Oak Ridge Outdoor Swimming Pool is a national treasure,” says Reva O’Hallarn, a swimmer and historic pool blogger from Virginia who has joined the local effort to preserve it. “The pool has been one of the greatest discoveries of my life – I’ve trained in pools up and down the East Coast, and there is nothing that comes close to the Oak Ridge Outdoor Pool. The pool is a gem.”
Using technology to preserve the past
To help spread the word about the pool, local digital marketing professional David Pappas spent hundreds of hours creating “The Big Pool Story,” an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered storytelling platform that creates a rich, detailed history of the pool, and invites community members to join the conversation about preserving the watery landmark. Pappas has worked in tandem with the Facebook group to engage pool lovers far beyond our community boundaries.
In a letter to city officials, Billings wrote:
“There are many companies in Oak Ridge that specialize in environmental remediation and clean up. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent here over the years to find ways to keep things, such as hazardous waste, landfill contents, and surface and groundwater contaminants, from leaking. Why not enlist the help of local experts in this vital effort to save a civic treasure? … Has anyone considered reaching out to UCOR to see if they would be willing to get involved in the effort to save the Oak Ridge outdoor swimming pool? It’s just a suggestion, but perhaps one that should be considered.”
What will happen next is anyone’s guess. What will it cost to repair and remediate the pool? What amenities could be added? What changes could be made in the operations of the pool to make it more of an attraction?
Three members of the City Council replied to Billings’ letter, including Mayor Warren Gooch, who wrote: “The issues with the pool are multi-faceted, complex, and any solution will be costly. Further technical examinations will start as soon as the pool closes for the season. The findings will be ‘open and transparent’, (and) I have been clear in my support of the pool, acknowledgment of its historical significance, and maintaining it in its current location.”
Councilmember Chuck Hope wrote: “I am watching and encouraging the city manager to reassess the outdoor pool situation, I know what the outdoor pool means to so many people in town, we must be able to fix the pool from leaking, then we should look at providing the right amenities for the pool, while always keeping in mind the limited time that we keep the pool open during the summer months, what works for all citizens should and will be in our process moving forward.”
And Councilmember Charlie Hensley replied: “I am very much in favor of keeping the large pool.”
The motivated members of the Facebook group will be watching carefully and hoping for a return to the outdoor fun at their beloved historic swimming pool for many more summers to come.
The people involved in this effort include David Pappas, Bradford Woods, Denise Dunlap-Billings, Ram Uppuluri and Reva O’Hallarn.
Brendan O’Hallarn
bohallar@odu.edu
