Ouray city officials took a step back this w...
Ouray city officials took a step back this week in their efforts to fix diminished water flows and temperatures at the Hot Springs Pool, with councilors disagreeing on possible solutions to problems that are undermining the city’s most popular tourist attraction.
After more than an hour and a half of discussion and public feedback, a split City Council voted 3-2 Monday night to direct City Administrator Silas Clarke to come back at the March 20 meeting with a proposal offering basic design elements for a supplementary heat source for the pool. Mayor Ethan Funk and councilors Tamara Gulde and Josh Smith voted for the proposal, while councilors Peggy Lindsey and John Wood voted against it.
The council chose that route rather than what city staff had originally proposed: giving nearly $90,000 to a pair of Durango engineering firms to design and prepare for construction of a 600-squarefoot building that would house an electric or gas-fired boiler system.
At the heart of the council’s split is uncertainty and differentiation about how to sort out a complex question: What do you do when the hot springs are no longer consistently hot?
Clarke urged the council to allow him to return in two weeks with a basic proposal that begins to answer that question.
“I don’t know what the solution to all this is by any means. We as a community have to figure out what we’re going to do with this pool,” Clarke said.
Councilors in November seemed to be leaning toward building a new pump house that would feature two natural gas-fired boilers and enough room to potentially add a heat exchanger in the future. The council, though, didn’t make any formal decisions, leaving the door open to other mechanical heating systems — or other solutions altogether to a problem that has worsened over time.
The Hot Springs relies on geothermal water from three sources to provide sufficient natural heat: The Box Cañon Line, the OX2 Line and the Ball Park Line. Water from those sources flows into three pools within the larger pool complex — the shallow, hot and overlook pools. Two cold-water pools — the activity pool and the lap lanes — are supplied with water from Weehawken Spring. Geothermal water that flows into the three hot pools then routes through a heat exchanger, which heats the lap lanes and allows them to open occasionally during the winter.
But over time, flows and temperatures from the three geothermal sources have dropped — from 280 gallons a minute in 2017 to around 150 in 2021. The pool maintenance supervisor told councilors last fall flows have fallen as low as 130 gallons per minute – a 54% drop from the 2017 average.
The result is uncomfortably cool water that has forced the city to offer discounted admission, reduce pool hours or occasionally close the pool altogether, which is what happened on Tuesday in the face of windy conditions and cool water temperatures. That marked the fifth day so far this year where the pool opened late, closed early or didn’t open at all.
In the first 67 days of 2023, the city has had all three hot pools open just six days, according to daily updates posted on the pool’s Facebook page. More than a third of the time — 25 days — only one hot pool was open. The pool is open for only two hours to the public every Tuesday because of reduced water flows and temperatures.
Even with those less-than-ideal conditions, the city has raised pool admission prices twice since last summer, contending the additional revenue is needed to help pay for pool improvements.
The city was presented with a proposal Monday from Durango- based Reynolds Ash + Associates and ME&E Engineering to design a boiler plant that would heat chlorinated pool water to augment the geothermal water.
But Lindsey argued such a plan is “getting the cart before the horse.” She and Councilor John Wood pushed for the city to find other sources of geothermal water that are currently untapped, such as the Vinegar Hill Spring on the east side of town.
“I would like us to explore what is our total current potential of hot water resources and what would that give us for this existing facility if we really exploited all of those,” Wood said.
He added he’s not ready to talk about designing or locating a building for a mechanical heating system “that looks like a stepchild nobody wanted.”
Councilor Tamara Gulde said the council needs a work session to understand how the pool works now and what potential solutions are out there.
“I know for a fact that this council does not know enough about the pool and how it works,” she said. “How can we make decisions when we do not know the history of the pool?”
The council agreed to tour the pool on March 20, then meet in a work session afterward to further discuss possible solutions.
Funk said he’s concerned that even if the city is able to find and secure additional sources of naturally heated water, it won’t be enough.
“We’re faced with something that is operating so close to its functional margin that it’s a problem, and we need to expand that functional margin,” he said.
Clarke said the Vinegar Hill Spring could deliver 30 gallons a minute to the pool, while a temporary pump the city has set up on the Box Cañon Line is adding another 25 to 30 gallons a minute. But that’s not nearly enough, he said, claiming the pool needs another 150 gallons a minute during the winter to operate at full capacity. He believes the only permanent solution is a mechanical heating system.
City officials have also discussed the idea of redrilling and casing the OX2 well at Fellin Park, along the first base line of the baseball field. The well has at least partially collapsed, which could be contributing to the loss of water flow.
Asked what he would do, City Resource Director Rick Noll, who has supervised pool operations since 2006, said he would drill the OX2 well.
If he owned the pool, he said, “I would have drilled that a long time ago.”
Clarke, though, said redrilling the well could cost upwards of $300,000, and he’s not sure OX2 has sufficient water capacity.
Residents offered a variety of suggestions at Monday’s meeting.
Ridgway resident Jake Niece said if the city chooses to install a boiler, it should go with electric over gas for environmental reasons.
“We’re locking in 30 years of carbon emissions if we go with a gas boiler,” he said.
Ouray resident Sean Hart, energy programs coordinator for Telluride-based nonprofit Eco-Action Partners, urged the city to consider using a renewable energy source such as geothermal or hydroelectric power to heat the pool water. He said the city should take advantage of federal or state grant money that could help cover those expenses.
“Heating the pool with fossil fuels is highly unsustainable,” Hart said.
Ouray resident Jeff Skoloda suggested pressurizing the Box Cañon Line, noting the city is currently losing water to Cañon Creek that could instead be flowing down the 10-inch line to the pool. He said the city should avoid installing a supplemental heat source for the pool “at all costs.”
“This is a hot springs pool and we need to look at all options to keep it just that,” he said.
Ouray resident John Nixon claimed the city has a history of paying for projects that haven’t worked, whether it’s the current sewer lagoon system that is being replaced with a mechanical treatment plant or the Hot Springs Pool remodel that was completed in 2017.
If the city builds a mechanical heating system for the pool, it needs to find a company that will guarantee its work, he said.
“This city is afraid to go after these people for nonperformance, and I’m tired of paying for it,” Nixon said.
In addition to losing pool patrons and revenue, the city is dealing with other infrastructure problems because of the reduced water flows and temperatures. Without enough hot water to keep the individual pools hot at full capacity overnight, pool staff each night drain the pools by 50%, then fill them in the morning. That helps the pools retain more heat, but the draining creates a freeze and thaw cycle that has cracked the tiles on the sides of the pools. Those tiles have to be replaced, and the bottom of the pool needs repairs, as well.
The clock is ticking on whatever solution is pursued. The city is already limping through this winter, which has been colder and snowier than the last few years, trying to keep one or two pools open. Warmer weather in the next few months will naturally solve the problem of cool pool temperatures, but if a solution isn’t implemented by the fall, the city faces the prospect of enduring another winter of reduced pool operations.
Higher development fees approved
Councilors unanimously approved a series of increases in building and development fees. In some cases, fees could double or triple.
City leaders say the current fees haven’t been updated in more than a decade and are currently inadequate to cover staff time and other costs associated with processing applications.
The new effects will take effect April 8.
Firm hired to design Fellin Park stage
Councilors also agreed to pay Aspen-based KEO Studioworks up to $14,500 to design a permanent stage in Fellin Park.
Building a permanent stage at the park has long been a goal for the city and Mountain Air Music Series, the nonprofit organization that hosts weekly concerts at the park every June.