The re-opening of the Cromwell pool has been delayed by nearly two weeks but its new environmentally-friendly heat system will be in place for the July school holidays.

The arrival of equipment for the nearly $1M project had been held up due to international freight delays, Central Otago District Council Parks and Recreation manager Gordon Bailey said.

When work began in mid-April it was predicted the pool would be back in action by 22 June, but this had now been pushed out until 4 July, a few days before the end of the school term. 

 “We hoped to avoid this situation by ordering the required equipment well ahead of time but unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances out of our control vital equipment has yet to arrive. 

“With the current situation regarding freight from other countries, we have a number of items which were due on site that are still on the water. This has had a knock-on effect to work we can carry on with because of the sequencing of the work.”

 The Cromwell Pool’s LPG boiler is being replaced with a centralised water-sourced heating system that uses the town water supply as the heat source. 

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).

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

Central Otago District Council Parks and Recreation manager Gordon Bailey.

“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,” Gordon said.

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.

“We have had news from the supplier about the heat exchangers and one of the pumps, that these items are delayed and due into Lyttleton port, therefore we are unlikely to see them on site until Monday 13 June. 

“With the follow-on works required after installing these items along with commissioning the system I believe we will need the minimum of an extra week to complete everything properly to have the pool up and running,” Gordon said.

The winter school holidays run from 9-24 July 2022, and the facility hosts Swim School from the beginning of Term 3 on Monday, 25 July.