Hoffman Aquatic Center closed for season

BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. (WEAU) - As schools end for the year and summer break begins, one Jackson County community’s outdoor pool will be closed for the season.

The Black River Falls Parks and Recreation Director Chad Duerkop said the Hoffman Aquatic Center was losing approximately 18,000 gallons of water a day from a leak in the pool. That loss of water meant not only having to regularly fill the pool, it also poses a health risk to the community.

“This is a 250,000-gallon pool. We’re on the pace that we would have been on pace this year to using 1.6 million gallons of makeup water,” Duerkop said. “With adding that much make-up water per day, we will really struggle being able to keep the disinfectant levels at state mandates levels and then that will public the public at risk.”

With this closure, Duerkop said the next step is to find the leak and fix it.

“The cost on this could be anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000,” Duerkop said. “We’re going to put all the resources we have on it and try to get this done and figure it out as soon as we can.”

To help accommodate the pool closure, The Lunda Community Center will be extending the hours of their indoor waterpark.

“We will be open here at the Lunda Community Center a few days a week for certain hours so that will help offset the Hoffman Aquatic Park being closed,” Bethan Hale, Lunda Community Center Executive Director, said. “If you do come to swim, that’s not all you can do. If you purchase a day pass you can also go to their program gym, play basketball, volleyball, ping pong and pickleball.”

As for the future of the Hoffman Aquatic Center, Duerkop is asking community members to stay patient as they work on the pool and has high hopes for next year.

“I never want to say 100% but I’m going to go 99.9% that it will be open next summer,” Duerkop said.

The Lunda Community Center has not finalized the days and times the indoor waterpark will be this summer but hope to have that information soon. Hale said the best place to stay informed about those updates would be on the Lunda Community Center Facebook Page.

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