The Cromwell pool will close tomorrow for approximately two months, while its aging heating system is upgraded, the Central Otago District Council announced last week.

The closure, which coincides with the start of the school holidays, was to allow the current LPG boiler to be replaced with an energy-efficient heat pump.

The innovative move, partly using heat off a street water main, attracted a $100,000 grant from the government’s Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority(EECA), CODC Parks and Recreation Manager Gordon Bailey said.

He was pleased to see the boiler being replaced with a much lower-carbon emission option, which would also mean decreased operating costs.

While the timing wasn’t the best, Gordon says it was unavoidable due to delays in equipment arriving and also resulted in the least disruption for lessons and other programmes.

 “We are aware it is the school holidays, but this timing period has been chosen because of a six-month wait in international freight deliveries, which included the arrival of the heat pump itself and some other equipment.

The timing is also to least impact on the swim schools and other set programmes.

The Alexandra Pool is open during this close-down period so that people do have that option. No time is a good time, but the work needs to be done.”

The new heat pump will be utilising a new refrigerant, which has low global warming potential, according to a council media statement.

 “It is a unique way of heating a pool.

This new form of heating will shift almost all energy usage to electricity and take heat from the Council’s street water main, which will be transferred into the pool.”

Over the next five years, this meant a carbon reduction of approximately 221 t-CO2per/year, the equivalent of the CO2 emissions stored in 3.4 hectares of established native forest.

“While it is an inconvenience for people in the short term, in the long term what we’re going to end up with is an energy-efficient way of heating the pool, which will be of benefit not just to the community but to the environment,” Gordon says.

 The Cromwell Community Board welcomed the upgrade, chairperson Anna Harrison said. 

“The Cromwell Community Board fully supported this initiative that will see significant reduction in Council’s carbon footprint in operating the Cromwell Pool.”

 All memberships will be put on hold during the upgrade and people will still be able to use their swim membership at the Alexandra Pool, according to the statement.

Term 2 for Central Swim School will be shortened, and the swim school team leader will contact all swimmers in June for enrolments for the following term. All swimmers in the

Term 1 course will be automatically held a spot. In November last year the Community Board approved to allocate the full amount to undertake the

work, while the application to EECA for funding was pending.

The board had already allocated $930,000 for the project and agreed to allocate a further $162,000 needed after an updated estimate.

This was prior to the $100,000 grant being approved.

Council would be giving updates on progress as the work progressed.