SHENANDOAH, Iowa (KMTV) — After it was closed for the season last summer, the Shenandoah municipal pool will be open this summer. It took some repairs and slightly higher water levels to get it up and running again.
- Mayor Roger McQueen: “The biggest concern was, you know, we were looking at a five-year drought. Our water levels in our wells were dropping so much that — with the fact of it leaking — it just made no common sense to put water in it.”
- Eight-year-old Grace Sparks spends a lot of time at the pool — her mom is the manager — and she's excited it's reopening. She says she has important memories associated with the pool, including the time she spent with a teenage lifeguard, Grace Johnson, who passed away in 2021.
- Shenandoah brought new wells online this year, but it has long term plans to drill into the Fremont aquifer, which the mayor expects will alleviate the city's water concerns.
WATCH KATRINA'S STORY BELOW
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Last year, there was some disappointment in Shenandoah because the city couldn’t open its pool. I’m Southwest Iowa Neighborhood Reporter Katrina Markel and, this year, the pool is reopening after some renovations to the facility and slightly better city water levels.
Last year, I covered Shenandoah’s water crisis. Water Superintendent Tim Martin put a color-coded pole in city hall to show neighbors how low the water levels were.
On top of that, the public pool was leaking, Mayor Rodger McQueen told me.
Katrina: Why did you have to close it last summer?
Mayor McQueen: “The biggest concern was, you know, we were looking at a five-year drought. Our water levels in our wells were dropping so much that — with the fact of it leaking — it just made no common sense to put water in it.”
McQueen told me it was an agonizing decision: “It’s hard on a community our size to not be able to open our public swimming pool.”
The water isn’t treated yet, but the 25-year-old pool is refurbished. City water levels are a little better. That’s good news for kids like Grace Sparks.
Katrina: “When you heard the pool was going to open, what did you say?”
Grace: “I was like ‘Yay! It’s gonna open!”
Eight-year-old Grace has grown up at the pool. Her mom manages it.
Grace: “Uh, there’s been a lot of memories here, so it’s just like really important.”
Katrina: “What kind of memories?”
Grace: “Like swimming pool memories, lifeguard memories, and all that stuff.”
Including her friend — Grace Johnson — a 17-year-old lifeguard who died in 2021, memorialized on the pool slide.
“I think there’s a lot more than just the recreational part of it,” said McQueen.
Swim lessons and summer jobs will resume.
“...And I just get to come and swim early and make sure everything’s set up for the day,” Grace said.
The city has also secured land to drill deeper wells into the Fremont aquifer to solve its long-term water worries.
City officials are hoping to open the pool the first week in June. I’m your Southwest Iowa neighborhood reporter, Katrina Markel.
