Success Story - In Communities
Rocky Mountain House Swimming Pool
Once every few weeks, Rocky Mountain House Swimming Pool manager Fran Sosnoski transforms herself into creature more suited to a horror movie than a recreation facility, all in the name of recycling.
Suiting up in protective gear, which includes a special jacket, gloves, and eyewear, she slips into a back room with all the plastic bottles that have come to her laden with pool chemicals. Carefully, she rinses them out three times, making sure the bottles are completely chemical free. Then, and only, then can she take them to her local recycling depot.
“It’s a lot of extra work, but it’s worth it,” she said.
That “can-do-for-the-environment” attitude is clear throughout the newly renovated facility, which also uses geothermal heating to warm the water in the facility’s two pools.
It’s tough to compare the heating costs before and after as the geothermal system, which draws on heat stored deep in the ground, was put in at the same time as the pool’s size was doubled. Still, Aquatic
Director of Recreation, Parks, and Community Services Lee Chambers estimates there are times when the pool could save up to 30 per cent in gas costs, depending on market conditions.
“Pools take a tremendous amount of heating,” said Chambers. “It’s a much better payback to use geothermal when you need that much heat.”
The new heating system has sparked a wave of green thinking in the pool, says Sosnoski, which also includes recycling paper, plastics, cans, and other green measures such as putting timers on showers and the hot tub to encourage less water use.
“It’s all about thinking outside of the box,” says Sosnoski. “And doing what you CAN do.”
