Pahrump’s community pool open for business

The Memorial Day weekend attracted more than a hundred local residents to the Pahrump Town Pool.

Though the town held a soft opening last week, Pool Manager Shelby Hughes said this past weekend officially kicked off the town’s pre-summer swim season as members of the Valley Cruisers of Pahrump sponsored a free community swim once again this year.

“The Memorial Day weekend was kind of calm on Friday and Saturday and even parts of Sunday because the weather’s been a little cooler this year so far,” she said. “Monday was the day we were pretty busy and we had up to a hundred and fifteen people at the pool.”

The weekend didn’t go without a few snafus.

Town Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Matt Luis said staff had to cease operations after someone moved their bowels in the shallow end on Sunday.

Luis said it was shut down Sunday at 2:30 pm. and reopened on Monday at 12:30 p.m.

“The pool was shut down for quite a while because someone defecated in the pool,” he said. “We first had to clean up all of the solid material and bring the chlorine up to a certain level for so many hours. After that, we have to let the chlorine level come back down to normal levels.”

Luis also said the town is taking precautions to prevent what occurred in Las Vegas this month, after a listeria outbreak forced the closure of several community pools.

“Regarding the issue they’ve been having in Vegas, we have been taking extra precautions by sanitizing everything down each night,” he said. “One of our staff members, Jimmy Martinez, has a certified pool operator’s license and he is very on top of this type of thing. He’s just super and he knows what he is doing when it comes to community swimming pools.”

The pool is open seven day a week with varying hours for adult and open swimming, according to Hughes, who noted a slight change in scheduling for some swimmers.

“We have adult swim in the morning from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., which is different this year because it normally closes at 10 a.m.,” she said. “We decided to keep it open an hour later. We also have open swim from noon to 6 p.m., 7 days a week.

Hughes said parents can also plan for children’s swim lessons beginning next month.

“We will have swim lessons starting on June 6th and we did get a grant again this year for free toddler swimming lessons for the first 50 kids that come in,” she said. “That will be for kids ages 4 and under. The regular swim lessons are $30 for the first child and $20 for any additional children. Those lessons will begin on June 22nd and they will run for two weeks at a time.”

Hughes also wanted to remind parents about the rules and regulations on swimming at the town pool.

She said it does not serve as a day care center.

“Though we are trained to save lives and watch for emergencies, we are not babysitters,” she said. “Children have to be at least 12 years of age to come into the pool without supervision. If they are under the age of 12 they have to be accompanied by an adult 18 or older. Parents cannot just leave their child with an older sibling if they are not 18 or older. There have been times when the kids wander out into the park and at that point we don’t know where they are. It has been an issue in the past and it has been an issue already this season.”

The venue is a six lane 25-yard pool with a detached wading pool for younger children.

Daily admission is 50 cents while single and family annual passes can be purchased for $20 or $30 respectively, through Labor Day.