Cr Bill Faulkner Faulkners Corner www.sunlive.co.nz

The saga of the leaks and water temperature in the Mount Hot Salt Water Pools has culminated in their closure for 16-18 weeks according to Tauranga City Aquatics Ltd (TCAL) chairman Warren Banks.
All councillors attended a meeting and inspection on site recently to view the situation first hand.

First up I have to say that PR-wise the situation has not been well handled by TCAL.

For weeks leading up to this closure hot pool users had been ringing me to try and get some action in getting the pools up to advertised temperatures, particularly first thing in the morning.
Complaints to pool staff produced no improvement and the issue had become diluted (pun intended) because customers had been taking in their own thermometers to prove claims the pools weren't up to advertised temperatures. Even though my informants said the thermometers were in enclosed plastic covering, the issue had become the danger of the glass thermometers breaking. All of this was relayed to TCAL so the problem was well known. Public action by pool users ultimately forced the issue and the next thing elected members knew – the complex was closed.

Shaking things up
A few days later we had the on-site meeting. This whole process was probably not the best way of going about things. Once again more power to the people who brought the matter to a head. This has all had much press and they have made a feast of it, but there is much more to it that is not sensational and hasn't had such focus.

These pools are hot salt water pools. Apparently Rick Curach, a Mount resident for many years, was unaware of this, as he thoughtfully told a council meeting it would save millions of litres of water once the leak was fixed. It seems he thought they were fresh hot water pools. Or maybe someone stood by the water inlet with a salt shaker? In a Bay Times opinion piece on Tuesday the writer also appears to be unaware that these are hot salt water pools.
He thought the leak should have been picked up by ‘whoever paid the water bill, noticing a pretty major jump in water usage'.
How it really works is that salt water is pumped from the harbour, run through a heat exchanger heated by hot thermal salt water from a bore and then discharged back into the harbour. The threat of meningitis precludes use of the bore water directly in the pool as used to happen when the pools first opened in the 60s.

Salty scarring
Most people, at the Mount in particular, would know the devastating effect salt water has on machinery. Our inspection showed the dismal condition of the pumps and filter plant. It's a wonder they kept going this long. Council is not without blame for this either. Plans for a pool plant upgrade have been around for two or three years and got caught up in the resource consent application for the proposed (now failed) pools expansion. From my perspective, TCAL and its contractors have done well to keep the place going this long. Council, as owner of the complex, has told TCAL to fix the pools ASAP. As depreciation is cash funded there will be no extra call on ratepayers to pay the about $1.5 million fix. There are no plans of the existing pipe structure layout, which we were told, run under the concrete floors of the pools thereby ensuring no repairs. New pipes will be placed around the perimeter and the old pipes blocked off. So blame for this debacle must be shared with the old Mount Borough Council who built them, Tauranga City Council and TCAL.
You could say that the golden goose has been well and truly cooked as these pools are the only pools that produce a (healthy) surplus out of all the aquatic network. Estimates are of $160,000 per month revenue loss over 4-5 months – close to $1 million. Oh joy!

Eyeing up a new front
The other interesting issue for council is the ongoing (for 20 years) waterfront upgrade(s). Council has adopted a practical way forward for this, which might just work after many failed attempts. In my opinion one of the reasons past proposals failed was because they were too detailed and too specific. This created controversy and disagreement, plus the cost. So this time the existing resource consent application will be continued and once obtained council will proceed with only one phase at a time, over the years as it can be afforded. This way additions and deletions can be made as community use evolves. Applications for changes to consents can be made as and when needed. This process means that the proposed $20 million in the upcoming Ten Year Plan can be significantly reduced.

Planning cost problems

Comments attributed to me in the Bay of Plenty Times were incorrectly reported. What I actually said was that lessons to be learned from the past were NOT to take the waterfront from one point to another in one foul swoop. The first stage is to get cars off the reclamation so people can see the harbour, and provision of non controversial things like grass and a boardwalk.

It's not the Resource Management Act that is entirely at fault - its principles are noble and worthy in the main. But interpretations and manipulations over the past 20 years since its inception have almost rendered it an unaffordable excess.

This government promised practical reviews, but it's hard to see this down here at the coal face.

Hearing ideas and needs
At projects and monitoring committee, elected members received a presentation about houses built from shipping containers here in the city. More of a modular system than what you might be imagining. They are extremely strong we were told and earthquake proof too. Their construction yard is down at Sulphur Point and you can see them being built on the old storage yard. Some imaginative designs were presented and they looked impressive. As the presenter said – design adds value like nothing else.
There was also another presentation from surf lifesavers who receive about 10 per cent of their funding from local councils, two per cent from ACC and 15 per cent from pokies. ACC got off really light – when you consider that BOP Lifesavers claim they saved 44 lives this past season. ACC should pay more – much more, and ratepayers less.
This week's mindbender: 'The law of variation says if you change traffic lanes, the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are now in! (Works every time.)”