by Claire Anderson | Aug 31, 2023 | News
Pool Progress: Behind the Scenes of the Lopez Swim Center
FLIP Speaks with Water Technology Inc.’s Ryan Nachreiner
The campaign to build the Lopez Swim Center has retooled and is better than ever after project delays last year that were beyond our control. This eight-part series will provide you with project updates, along with interviews from aquatic experts, leaders, and community members behind the campaign. This is part one of our eight-part series.
PROJECT UPDATES
Cost savings—Project leaders made the following planning decisions to reduce project costs without sacrificing quality:
- Simplified design of the shower house
- Selected energy-efficient equipment for lower operating costs and durability
- Became a seasonal indoor/outdoor pool (instead of an indoor pool with a retractable roof) to save both costs and energy. A heated, air-inflated dome will go up in fall for indoor swimming in cooler months. In late spring, the dome will be deflated and stored, for open-air swimming. Left, above: In cold weather, an air-inflated Arizon dome will provide a warm space to enjoy both pools. During the summer, the dome will be removed for open-air swimming.
Timeline—We hope to open the Swim Center in late 2024. Please understand that in our post-COVID world, construction projects remain vulnerable to staffing, cost escalation/funding, and supply-chain issues that could impact this timeline. We are also waiting for the San Juan County permit (see more details in our next article).
Lopez Swim Center Talks with Water Technology Inc.’s Ryan Nachreiner, Regional Director of Project Development
LSC: What is Water Technology Inc.’s role with the Lopez Swim Center project?
WTI: Water Technology Inc. (WTI) is a specialized design firm focused solely on aquatic recreation. For the Lopez Swim Center, we prepared the design and engineering drawings and the specifications for the mechanical and water-treatment systems. These designs are crucial to obtain permit approvals, to bid contract work, and to guide the facility’s construction.
LSC: What is WTI’s experience in the Pacific Northwest and with local regulators?
WTI: WTI has been working in the Pacific Northwest, and Washington state in particular, for over 25 years. As the largest and most experienced aquatic design team in North America, we take a personalized approach to each region where we operate. In the Puget Sound and Salish Sea area, we’ve built a long history and strong relationships with local regulations and code officials.
I live in Bellingham and make a point of being involved in issues affecting our industry at the regional level. I serve on a Department of Health advisory board that is responsible for revisions to state pool codes. WTI also works across the country and in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East developing destination waterparks and family aquatic centers. This experience gives us access to the latest trends and technologies across five continents. No other aquatic firm brings our extensive experience in the Puget Sound and Salish Sea area and the industry knowledge, resources, and technologies from our work around the world.
LSC: Can you talk about some of the equipment that Lopez Swim Center has selected for the new pool?
WTI: Good choices of materials and equipment are crucial for the long-term operation of the facility, especially considering the remoteness of and streamlined staffing operation needs of this facility. Each of the major mechanical components—pumps, filters, controllers, and disinfection systems—are being provided by established companies with highly refined product lines. Equipment was selected for its durability and serviceability. The pools will be constructed using preconstructed steel panels made by Myrtha Pools, a company known for having one of highest quality methods for pool construction with a 25-year warranty. The choice of steel Myrtha pools eliminates the need to for draining them every 3 to 7 years like traditional pools, saving significant water consumption as well as operating costs. With these quality products, the Lopez Swim Center will be able to have manufacturer support over the facility’s lifespan.
LSC: Pools are known to be energy hogs. How are you addressing cost and conservation?
WTI: Pools are energy users, but the Lopez Swim Center has made decisions that significantly reduce its energy consumption. For the Swim Center, we tackled waste and inefficiency in three areas: water and space heating; water filtration; and water circulation / pumping. The most important investment is that the Center will operate with heat pumps powered by electricity. The net result is a 75% reduction in annual operating costs and eliminating the use of 48,000 gallons of propane annually. Secondly, we’ll use advanced filtration with regenerative media filters, which uses up to 90% less water than more common filtration systems, and at the same time, does a better job filtering particles out of the water. This matters because the less water a pool uses, the less energy that’s needed to heat that water.
The largest energy users in pools typically are the pumps that continuously circulate water through the filtration and water treatment system. For efficiency, we’ll have a variable frequency drive on every pump motor directing it to run at precisely the power it needs and preventing wasted energy.
LSC: How does the pool’s design support a positive swimming experience?
WTI: The Lopez Swim Center will offer a broad range of programming for pool users of all ages. There are children learning to swim and retirees keeping healthy and fit, plus a range of swimmers between. To best serve the different pool users and the different types of programming, we designed two separate pools that can be kept at two different temperatures. This allows, for example, the Lopez Swim Center to host water exercise classes in one pool with warmer water to benefit joints and muscles, while keeping another pool at a lower temperature that’s more suitable for lap swimming or swimming lessons. Of course, safe and sanitary water is essential to a positive swimming experience. Advanced filtration and automated UV disinfection systems will continuously provide exceptional water quality; a supplemental sanitation system will provide extra protection against pathogens in addition to the primary disinfection system.
To learn more about the campaign for the Lopez Swim Center contact:
Anne Marie MacPherson, Executive Director Friends of Lopez Island Pool, at director@lopezislandpool.org
This article series is supported by a grant from the Lopez Thrift Shop.
by Claire Anderson | Apr 3, 2023 | News
Having well-trained lifeguards will be a crucial element in the Lopez Swim Center’s successful operation, and FLIP is getting a jump-start on lifeguard recruitment and training with Lopezians Paul Henriksen and Kathryn Tucker. These community movers and shakers are helping launch this vitally important program for the Swim Center.
FLIP: What motivated your decision to join FLIP’s efforts to build a Swim Center on Lopez Island?
Paul Henriksen (PH): I love to swim and I feel very strongly that every child should learn to swim. Swimming is a life skill. We have lost a few people in Hummel Lake since I moved here in the late ’70s.
Kathryn Tucker (KT): I spend more time on Lopez now and love to do what I can to serve the community. I think the pool will be a hub of community and I hope to be part of making it a great success.
FLIP: What are your main reasons for spearheading the Lifeguard Training Program?
PH: I want to ensure that our pool has good lifeguard coverage so we can all swim safely. And that dovetails into children being able to learn this essential life skill.
KT: As a lifeguard for many years when I was younger, I know what is involved (although now I have greater awareness of the great responsibility vested in lifeguards). I am eager to see the pool open and become a thriving community hub on the island, offering a new way for maintaining and nurturing fitness.
FLIP: As the leads for the Lifeguard Training Program, tell us what the mission is, and what the near-term goals are.
PH: We want to have enough experienced, certified lifeguards when the pool opens and also encourage Lopez youth to the possibilities of becoming lifeguards and serving this community.
KT: Our current goal is to encourage interest in lifeguard candidates and help them understand what is involved in gaining certification: the commitment of time and effort, and necessary physical fitness to succeed.
Because lifeguards have much more limited training and will always call 911 for EMS in any significant medical emergency, the pool lifeguards will need to interface with Lopez EMS. Beginning discussions with EMS will be among the next steps.
FLIP: The spring 2023 fundraiser is focused on obtaining life-saving equipment, but clearly the pool will need people who are trained to use this equipment. What have been your recruitment efforts thus far?
PH: We currently have a list and contact information for people who have expressed an interest in lifeguard training on Lopez. We hope to draw from that group, and will stay in touch as the pool and program develop.
We are eager to hear from anyone who has the motivation to become a lifeguard and help to staff the new pool. For more information or to get involved, please email info@lopezislandpool.org or sign up via FLIP’s volunteer portal at https://www.lopezislandpool.org/volunteer.
KT: Prospective lifeguards include competent swimmers with a strong physical fitness base who are interested in learning how to rescue swimmers in distress or drowning, and providing first-responder care to pool visitors who have a medical emergency out of the water, in or around the pool facility. Candidates could be high school juniors and seniors, Lopez Fire and EMS first responders, and just about anyone else who has the requisite interest and abilities.
FLIP: When the Lopez Swim Center is complete, who will be leading those trainings?
KT: The choices include prospective lifeguards going to the mainland for training; bringing a lifeguard trainer to do training at the Swim Center; and certifying one of the Swim Center’s lifeguards as a lifeguard instructor to offer training here.
FLIP: It seems like most people have pivotal swimming experiences that shaped their interaction around and in the water. What were yours?
KT: My dad taught me to swim at a very young age in Long Island Sound, off the beach in Clinton, Connecticut. Later, I swam on my high school swim team and became a certified lifeguard. I worked then and in college as a lifeguard.
I had plenty of opportunity to use my life-saving swimming skills when I started whitewater kayaking in college. I competed in whitewater slalom kayaking races and was a member of the U.S. Kayak team in some international competitions. I also paddled Olympic Flatwater kayak, and in 1984 was U.S National Champion in K2 Women’s and K2 Mixed (with fellow Lopez paddler David Halpern, who was on the Olympic team that year).
PH: I learned to swim at a very early age, I was probably 6 or 7 years old, in the Seattle area. Through high school, in the summer, I continued to swim daily in Lake Washington,
I received my first lifeguard training certificate via WSU in the late ’60s; I became SCUBA certified in the mid ’70s. In the mid ’80s, I rescued a swimmer who passed out in the shallow end of a pool. He was demonstrating how long he could hold his breath underwater (after returning from doing some free diving in Australia). It was an easy rescue because the water was only about 3 feet deep. In the early ’90s, I helped to keep a swimmer afloat in large waves off the Big Island of Hawai’i until lifeguards arrived on paddle boards. In the early 2000s, on a school field trip, I kept a student from drowning in a lake.
FLIP: Please share with our readers how you found Lopez—or how Lopez found you.
PH: I grew up in Seattle, just down the road from the Carpenters. They owned the Lopez Village Market, so I heard about Lopez frequently. During the summer of ’78, I came to Lopez on weekends to help build a cabin on Shoal Bay for the McArdle family. I visited Camp Nor’wester and was extremely impressed with that site and operation. A position was advertised in late summer for maintenance supervisor and caretaker for the camp. I applied, got the job, and moved to Lopez full time in November 1978. I met my wife, Christa Campbell, here in the early ’80s. In 1989, shortly after our first child was born, we were offered the position of directing the camp. The Camp had a large waterfront program and a saltwater swimming pool, so we needed lifeguards. In the spirit of not asking our staff to do anything we wouldn’t do, I kept up my certification by going to Friday Harbor and Bellingham (and even to Canoe Island one time), for recertification.
KT: I got to know Lopez through the Halpern family. David Halpern was a kayak teammate; that family owns a lovely piece of inland property on Lopez Hill. My then-husband (Scott Tucker) and I bought the adjacent undeveloped and remote 10 acres at the very top of Lopez Hill in 1991. Both of our kids, Torin and Montana, grew up spending a lot of time here, including in LIFRC summer camps, sailing, soccer, and horseback riding. We built our off-grid cabin ourselves. Our other neighbor is the Lopez Hill Forest Preserve, where I am often out on the trails. I love hiking, biking, trail running, cross-country skiing, and kayaking.
My day job is as a lawyer engaging advocacy to protect and expand the rights of the terminally ill. I am a long-time yoga practitioner and teacher. I blend my day job and my yoga teaching in offering workshops called “Preparing for the Final Asana: Law and Medicine at the End of Life and What Yoga has to Offer” at retreat centers, including Kripalu in western Massachusetts. In the summers, I lead Saturday morning yoga practice on the deck at the Islander.
Above: FLIP’s Lifeguard recruitment leaders Paul Henriksen (L) and Kathryn Tucker (R).
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FLIP is thankful for Paul and Kathryn’s leadership in launching the Lopez Swim Center’s essential lifeguard recruitment and training program. For more information or to get involved, please email info@lopezislandpool.org or sign up via FLIP’s volunteer portal at lopezislandpool.org/volunteer.
FLIP’s mission is to bring greater health, water safety, and community to the people of San Juan County by building and operating a sustainable, low-maintenance, indoor/outdoor Swim Center that will serve the community for generations to come. Our vision is to have a safe place for our children to learn to swim; for all ages to have an accessible pool for recreation, socialization, exercise, and water therapy; and to foster a healthier and more connected island community. This spring’s GiveLopez and GiveBIG fundraiser focuses on raising money to purchase necessary lifesaving and accessibility equipment. Give online at https://www.wagives.org/story/Fliplifesavingequipment/
This series of informational interviews with pool experts and articles on pool progress was made possible by a generous grant from the Lopez Thrift Shop. We greatly appreciate their support in helping spread the word about the Lopez Swim Center!
by Lisa DiGiorgio | Oct 19, 2020 | News
We are thrilled to share that Lopezian Inez Black has pledged $100,000 toward our Lopez Community Swim Center !
For more than five years, Inez Black has been a consistent and interested supporter of Friends of Lopez Island Pool (FLIP). Like many, she’s been concerned about the sustainability of the facility and its accessibility to all. This year, after learning that one donor had pledged $500,000 for a Maintenance Reserve Fund and another donor pledged $100,000 for the Swim Center’s Scholarship Fund, she felt motivated to become a leadership donor.
At a September FLIP “Poolside” presentation, Inez expressed her concerns that only 8% of Lopez children are water competent (American Red Cross 2017 assessment of 110 Lopez Elementary School students). She added that “unfortunately, proximity to the water does not necessarily mean one will know how to swim and feel safe in and around the water.”
Inez feels fortunate to have learned to swim at an early age, on the East coast, at her home on the Tred Avon River on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Her father taught her to swim before age five, in a small pool he built in the river; then she continued lessons in the family pool, and later at a camp on Lake Champlain. As she became comfortable and confident in the water, she also enjoyed fun times in the water with friends. These positive experiences led Inez to other sports, including sailing and canoeing.
Her late husband, David, grew up in the Northwest, on Bainbridge Island. He learned to swim in a community saltwater pool on the shores of Puget Sound. He enjoyed sailing in his family’s Senior Blanchard Knockabout and, as a young adult, led his own mobile camp for boys, “The Vagabonds,” which included several weeks sailing in the Salish Sea among the San Juan Islands and up to Desolation Sound.
Living on Lopez 50 years ago, there were few options for swim lessons. Inez recalled, “Two private pools: Camp Nor’Wester’s pool was available for just a few hours and at the Lopez Islander Resort, where Marian Speidel taught swimming.” Inez emphasized, “Now, 50 years later, we really need a community facility to provide a safe place for all to learn to swim and develop water safety skills.”
Inez shared, “Our early positive experiences in and around the water led to many years together enjoying the Salish Sea. I feel everyone deserves the same opportunity we had, so I decided to act.”
When Inez was asked why she decided to give at this time, she shared, “It feels like the project is on a strong footing after years of diligent research and thorough planning by a dedicated local board. I hope others will ‘jump in’ to help take this important project to its next step. What a great opportunity for cross-generational community to learn swimming and water safety together—a life-saving legacy!”
Thank you, Inez, for helping to bring us that much closer to making the Lopez Island Swim Center a reality!
Lopez Will Swim!
Philip Prud’homme, Executive Director, and the FLIP Board
by Lisa DiGiorgio | Apr 28, 2020 | News
The COVID crisis has caused many things in our lives to be postponed. And although activities like swimming at state park beaches, community pools, and boating may be off the table for many of us this summer, this doesn’t negate the critical need for a place where our island kids can safely learn and practice swimming skills.
We understand that pressing community needs for services and support take precedence right now. We are inspired by the generosity of those stepping up to help others in need. We believe we’ll come out of this time with a deeper appreciation for what really matters: that we might consume less and connect more; that we might take better care of ourselves and view health through a new lens. That’s one of the reasons we’re more determined than ever to reach our funding goals and build the pool.
Pool construction can begin as soon as we reach our fundraising goal. Being able to break ground will provide much-needed jobs on Lopez, and will help ensure a safer future for our kids and a healthier future for our community.
Because we feel a strong obligation to continue the important work you have entrusted us with through your donations of time, energy, and money, we want you to know how we are moving forward.
We are building on tremendous progress made last year. In 2019, FLIP streamlined plans, value-engineered the construction budget, and “pressure tested” our business plan to create the capacity to complete our campaign. We also received a state award of $1 million; an anonymous stock donation worth over $500,000; a surprise $100,000 pledge for a Scholarship Fund to ensure all children, regardless of income, can swim; and more than $130,000 from our year-end appeal from 187 donors. Because of strong community support from more than 700 donors responding to our annual appeals and farmers market presence, we’ve raised $4.3 million and are more than halfway to our fundraising goal!
We are focusing our fundraising efforts on foundations and major donors. We’re also hiring an Executive Director to help guide our all-volunteer board and complete the capital campaign as quickly as possible.
YOUR SUPPORT IS AS VITAL AS EVER and there are still many ways to give. Your donations will bring our community closer to building a swim center for all.
Double YOUR GIFT and help us match a $10,000 donation from a generous supporter! Visit us at lopezislandpool.org/donate today, or go to givebigwa/friends-of-Lopez-Island-Pool/ to donate during GiveBIG WASHINGTON, May 5th & 6th. Early giving starts now through May 4th.
Stay safe and stay healthy!
Bill LeDrew, President; Robin Bergstrom, Vice President; Micki Ryan, Secretary; Tom DiGiorgio, Treasurer (interim); Linda Barton; Pedro Costa; Lisa DiGiorgio
Editing by Carolyn McGown
by Carolyn McGown | Dec 16, 2019 | News
By Carolyn McGown (FLIP volunteer and former Board member)
A wonderful part of FLIP’s progress in 2019 was an unexpected $100,000 pledge for the creation of a scholarship fund that will ensure all Lopez Island kids have access to the pool and to swim lessons, regardless of their family’s income.
The donor behind this generous pledge is FLIP board member Lisa DiGiorgio! You’re used to seeing her name on the Pulse byline but this month Lisa has agreed to be in the Pulse spotlight to bring attention to her “A Pool for All $100K Challenge”
I sat down with this dedicated board member, pool supporter and (of course) avid swimmer to learn more about her decision to create a scholarship fund in honor of her mother, Lois Grace Forney. Here are some highlights from our conversation.
Pulse: “Lisa, why do you think it’s so important for kids to learn to swim?”
Lisa D: “After FLIP tested the elementary students and found that only 9% could pass the basic Red Cross water safety test, I knew we had to get Lopez kids swimming. Besides the obvious water safety issue, there is simply JOY in knowing how to swim. The freedom of movement that kids experience in a pool can translate into a lifelong love of swimming. Mastering the skill of swimming builds confidence in and out of the water. On Lopez we have the obvious challenge of cold water and lack of a swim center which has resulted in generations of kids not being safe in the water. This is something we can change and something I feel very passionate about!”
Pulse: “Where did you learn to swim?”
Lisa D: “I don’t really remember not knowing how to swim. I grew up in south central Pennsylvania, where there are pools in every town. My parents wanted us five kids to know how to swim and I spent just about every summer day in the water as a kid. When I was seven I joined two neighborhood swim teams and swam on both of them every summer, until I was seventeen!”
Pulse: “Has swimming influenced your adult life as well?”
Lisa D: “Swimming has continued to be a big theme in my life. I am a nutritionist and had a career as the manager of WIC & Nutrition Services for King County Public Health. Our programming emphasized nutrition and activity for young children and I made sure that included referrals for free swim lessons in neighborhood pools.
I have continued to swim regularly throughout my life and eventually participated in four triathlons! I want to see island kids spend a lot of time in the water to have this healthy outlet for their energy. The confidence they will get from swimming will impact their lives positively, even if they don’t end up being triathletes!”
Pulse: “You’ve been very generous in donating to FLIP in the past, but this is a BIG gift. What motivated this “next level” donation?”
Lisa D: “It has felt good to “dig deep” for something I feel so passionate about. When my husband Tom and I reviewed our finances and saw how well my IRA had done, I knew that I wanted those gains to go to something near and dear to my heart – swimming opportunities for children from economically challenged families.
I want kids to have lessons more than once a year and to have time to practice the skills they learn. I want kids to have access to these things, regardless of family income and for ALL kids to eventually graduate from high school knowing how to swim!”
Pulse: “What is ‘A Pool for All $100K Challenge’?”
Lisa D: “Well, before the scholarship fund can be used, we need a pool! I hope that sharing my passion and commitment to the project will inspire others to dig deep and give big this year. I’m challenging FLIP supporters to raise another $100,000 toward construction during our 2019 year end campaign. If any of our supporters would like to donate directly to FLIP from their IRA, like I did, I would be happy to explain how it works. It’s relatively simple to do and a great way to lower your tax bill.”
Pulse: “Any final thoughts?”
Lisa D: “The kids who learn to swim in this pool, will grow up to be the adults who take their own children to swim in this pool and then they will become the seniors who stay fit in this pool and retain their health, community and mobility because of this pool.
Our supporters are more than just donors. They are stewards of a healthier, happier, safer future for islanders!”
Pulse: “Thanks Lisa for your story, your vision and of course, your generosity! Let’s all get inspired by this individual who is putting her time, determination and resources where her heart is!”
by Lisa DiGiorgio | Aug 16, 2019 | News
We are blown away by a recent anonymous stock donation worth over $500,000! We feel so honored by the support that keeps coming in from this amazing community! This is one more BIG step forward on the path to completion of a year-round swim center … the path towards a safer island, swimming skills for all our kids and faster healing through water therapy … all right here, where we live, work and play. Thank you from the entire FLIP community to this generous and committed anonymous donor!
Making a stock donation of ANY size is simple! Giving appreciated stock is a great way to support the pool and to avoid capital gains taxes!
To donate stock contact Bill LeDrew at billledrew@lopezislandpool.org. He will provide you with our account information so your broker can initiate a wire transfer.
