El Segundo OKs Funds to Remove Asbestos at Pool

El Segundo will spend $315,000 to renovate and remove asbestos insulation from the city’s 50-year-old municipal swimming pool, the Urho Saari Swim Stadium.

The project, expected to start in two weeks, will take four months to complete.

The pool renovation was scheduled in the city’s 1989-90 capital improvement program. But the project was complicated in May when asbestos was discovered in several areas of the stadium complex. City officials feared the asbestos could become airborne and pose a health threat.

Asbestos fibers are considered cancer-causing if inhaled. The pool has been closed since the asbestos was discovered.

Robert Gils Associates, a consulting firm hired by the city, inspected the complex and in a June report recommended removal of some asbestos and repair of the remainder.

Jack Hilton, city equipment and facilities manager, said the city decided to remove all asbestos from the stadium. “The city wanted to make sure the community was protected against any exposure to asbestos, and the best way was to remove it all,” he said.

The project entails removing all asbestos from the main pool area, boiler room, filtration room, men’s and women’s locker room, and from a tunnel running beneath the pool area, Hilton said. He said the asbestos insulation was installed when the swim stadium--named after an El Segundo High School swimming coach--was built in 1940.

Renovation work, which will get under way after the asbestos removal, includes removing obsolete lights and wiring, modernizing the electrical system, replacing windows and painting the interior of the complex.

The City Council last week authorized a contract for the project with Baker Pacific Corp. of Long Beach. Asbestos removal added $188,000 to the cost of the renovation project, the city said.

The council also came to the rescue of the high school water polo team, which had no place to practice because of the pool closure. The city will spend $2,000 to transport the 30-member team to and from daily practice at the Hawthorne Municipal Pool. The city also will offset a portion of the pool rental fee, which is being negotiated with Hawthorne.

Bill Watkins, high school principal, said team practice will begin Sept. 5 and continue through mid-November. “We would have been hard-pressed to do this without city money,” he said, alluding to the tight finances of the El Segundo Unified School District.