Kona Pool Scheduled to Reopen This Month

New sand filtration system installed at Kona Aquatics Center. (PC: Parks and Recreation Department)

Kona Aquatics Center is set to reopen this month after it was forced to close indefinitely for repairs in March.

Coming in under budget, a new sand filtration system has been installed at the cost of $243,515. The pool is currently being painted and workers are balancing the chemical treatment.

Maurice Messina, deputy director of the Parks and Recreation Department, said the new system will be tested for three days to a week. If it runs trouble free, the pool should be reopened by mid-October.

The Kona pool is used regularly by people of all ages. From swimming classes to high school swim meets, all events and classes were moved to Konawaena High School’s pool in Captain Cook.

“It’s been a stress on the facility, stress on the lifeguards and stress on the community,” Messina said. “We appreciate their patience.”

Funding for the repairs came out of the Parks and Recreation Aquatics budget. Originally estimated to cost $400,000, the contractor Aquatic Solutions Hawai‘i was able to it at about half the cost.

“We appreciate that they (Aquatics Solutions) were able to work on target and under budget,” Messina said.

Kona Aquatics Center shut down in March. Messina said the filtration system had been springing leaks. While the county had been able doing temporary patches, they decided to find a long-term solution.