In Alameda: Good News for the Encinal Swim Center

Encinal High School's swim center may be reopened by mid-January, said an Alameda Unified School District official late today.

"Things are moving forward," said Chief Business Officer Robert Shemwell, who says plans for bringing the pools into compliance with  laws have been given tentative "yes" by Alameda County Health Department officials.

"We're still waiting for written confirmation from the county," he said, "but we should have that tomorrow."

The road to getting county approval for fixes to the Encinal Swim Center plans has . On Nov. 7, AUSD . On Dec. 7, the county replied the plans were not quite up to snuff. 

At the subsequent meeting, organized with the help of Alameda County Supervisor Alice Lai-Bitker, the county agreed to approve the plans with some modifications. 

"Everything is looking pretty good," said Shemwell. 

Both Alameda High and Encinal High swim centers were closed abruptly on Oct 15. Neither center was meeting the standards for state and federal regulations governing drain covers and filtration.

Aquatic athletes expressed their frustration with the closure at a , and the district's .

The fix for Alameda High's Emma Hood Swim Center was relatively straight-forward and the facility reopened on Nov. 2. 

Now things are looking better for Encinal. 

"The school district and the city are working collaboratively to contract with Western Water Features. The scope of work is estimated at $20 thousand [dollars]," said a statement from the school district. 

More on the history of the closures ,  and .