New water slide is popular--but more improvements still needed at Decorah Pool

This has been a popular season at the Decorah Municipal Swimming Pool.  Attendance at the pool has averaged 429 per day--thanks to favorable weather and improvements such as a new $301,000 water slide.

Even though the City of Decorah spent a lot of money on the new slide last year, there are still a number of "to do" items at the pool.  Park Board Chair Rich Gaard says he would like to see umbrellas installed at the pool to give more shade.

Park-Rec Director Andy Nimrod says that's definitely a need at the pool, but he's worried about the pool's water heater, which is old and needs frequent repairs.  There are also two roofs at the pool building that need repairs to fix leaks.  That work will be done this fall.  A new toddler slide had money set aside in the 2017-2018 budget, but has not yet been installed.

Park Board members may visit the Spring Grove swimming pool n the near future to see how that pool operates.  They're hoping to pick up a few ideas from Spring Grove--but they realize the Decorah Swimming Pool is much older, so some of the projects that will need to be done at the Decorah pool are because of the age of the pool.