Evidently, at least one of two issues was at play. Either the pool was installed incorrectly, or frost heave had created a void behind the pool shell. In this case, it was likely a combination of both. After all, proper installation would have prevented frost heave.
All this information was presented to the owners along with providing orders of magnitude for possible repairs versus full pool replacement.
The company was then asked to stem the leak as much as possible with minor repairs until Labour Day 2023, at which point demolition would begin. When this part of the process takes place, their team will be on-site to examine the exposed pool shell for future reference.
Crunching the numbers
For the country club, the cost of the leaking pool has been tremendous. Ignoring the cost of leak detection, esthetic damages, maintenance labour, and reduction in parking space, they have been strapped with the expense of buying, treating, and heating a staggering volume of makeup water.
During their pool season—a week before Memorial Day through the week after Labour Day—the pool leaked 6,953,423 L (1,836,900 gal). This amount of leakage comes with huge environmental implications.
Currently, the water rate is $3.56 per 3,785 L (1,000 gal), or $6,539.36 in water alone, per season. The losses in chlorine per season are more than $200. Calculating the cost of other treatment chemicals is difficult.
The energy used to heat the lost water is yet another financial and environmental burden, at 15,301,377 British thermal units (Btus). The existing pool heater is also roughly 50 per cent efficient. Thus, with a natural gas price of $8.95 per 28.3 m3 (1,000 cf), the true financial loss is $268.61.
