From left, Hunter Hays, Alex Hayes and Alan Feistner take the first plunge into the Splish ‘n Splash 50-meter pool as Col. Michael J. Taliento Jr., Area III commander, and lifeguard Shim Sung-hoon look on. Taliento opened the pool during a ceremony on Tuesday. (Neil Neeley / Courtesy of U.S. Army)
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea — Break out your sun block and swimwear: The new swimming pool under construction at Camp Humphreys since 2005 opened Tuesday under sunny skies, to enthusiastic residents who lost no time in jumping right in.
The pool is part of a larger facility called the Family Aquatic Center, a $7 million project set for completion in October and slated to open to the public in May 2007.
But Camp Humphreys officials pushed to get the pool open so community members could enjoy themselves this summer, said Joe Barrientes, project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers’ Far East District Pyeongtaek Resident Office.
The recreational pool measures about 50 meters by 25 meters (about 54 yards by 27 yards).
“That’s a huge pool,” said Barrientes. “That’s about as large as they get.”
And it’s the only one of the U.S. military’s pools in South Korea to feature a “state-of-the-art” water purification system that relies on ozone and bromine instead of chlorine, he said.
The pool will be open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and admission is free until further notice, said Camp Humphreys spokeswoman Susan Barkley.
The pool is to stay open through the summer, then close sometime in September, said Barrientes.
Work is continuing, meanwhile, on the rest of the center.
“It’ll sit until next May and it’ll open up full-scale next year,” he said.
Along with the pool that opened Tuesday is a connected diving pool and a bathhouse with showers and lockers, he said.
The diving pool has two one-meter diving boards and one three-meter board.
Slated for completion by October is a “splash pool” with tube slides.
Connected to that pool will be a separate water play area with a slide and a “kiddie” play area that has very shallow water and no slides but a big serpent figure that spews water for children to play in.
Also set for completion by October is a dry playground area and a separate volleyball court, both with resilient surfacing.
“It’s gonna be a really nice facility when it’s all completed,” said Barrientes. “The slides are actually en route … one of them arrived last week and the other two are a scheduled to arrive here real soon. Everything will be completed by the completion date.”
