Taxpayers soaked? City-owned pool leaking thousands of gallons

BOSTON — An Olympic-sized pool at Boston’s South End Fitness Center has been leaking thousands of gallons of water for at least a year, according to city records obtained by FOX25 Investigates.

The fitness center and pool are run by the Boston Public Health Commission.

In January, engineers with private firm Weston & Sampson confirmed the leak, coming from a drain pipe at “ground water level.” One test detected a leak of more than six gallons a minute, or about 9,100 gallons, during a 24-hour period.

“It’s sort of people’s tax dollars, really, being wasted when it could be used to fix the pool,” said Boston resident Charles Surett after FOX25’s Eric Rasmussen showed him the city records.

“Obviously, it’s the city’s responsibility to make sure everything’s on the up and up, so to know it could be leaking, potentially into people’s drinking water, that’s pretty concerning,” said Surett.

No one from the Boston Public Health Commission would go on camera to talk about the leak, but a spokesperson for the Commission sent FOX25 an e-mail saying, in part:

“We have not identified the source of the leak, and have initiated the process to repair a possible leak while modernizing the pool. BPHC and the City of Boston’s Property and Construction have developed a project plan to address the suspected leak… No one has identified any safety concerns, and the pool enjoys wide use among the community and SEFC members.”

While the pool was still open to members when FOX25 Investigates checked it out on Monday, the Health Commission says the pool will close next week, so surveyors can look at improvements including fixing the leak.

FOX25 Investigates also found code violations earned the pool a failed inspection in December 2015. City inspectors ordered management to provide “proper lighting, ventilation and sanitary conditions.”

The Health Commission told FOX25 it actually received two citations, one of which a manager addressed. A spokesperson wrote:

“Sanitary line items such as missing tiles, removal of rust, etc. were proactively identified and addressed as part of our regular internal facilities maintenance processes.”

When asked why the pool wasn’t closed sooner to address such a significant leak, a spokesperson noted the fitness center had been used as a homeless  shelter between October 2014 and August 2015 and that the city made the shelter a “priority” over the pool at that time.

Based on Boston water rates, the leak could have already cost the city more than $20,000 if the leak continued at the pace identified by engineers in January.

Cox Media Group