The pool on the floor of the CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska has been filled with water for the first time.
With the help of the Omaha Fire Department, USA Swimming began the fill at 9:30 AM on Tuesday morning. Engine 1 from the Omaha Fire Department’s downtown headquarters station pumped the first 500 gallons into the purpose-built temporary facility.
Let the fill begin. 💦#SwimTrials21 | @CHICenterOmaha pic.twitter.com/LJzLBY6EqZ
— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) May 25, 2021
500 gallons is a very small drop in a very large bucket: the pool, when completely filled, will hold 1.1 million gallons of water. That’s the equivalent of putting about 5 tablespoons of water in an average-sized bathtub.
Construction began on the pool on May 17, and the fill began on a day-and-a-half ahead of schedule. The full fill takes 8-10 hours.
The warmup pool built next door in the convention center is under construction now and is also ahead of schedule. That pool is expected to be filled on Friday.
The build to install two Myrtha pools was started as soon as Creighton University completed their graduation ceremonies in the arena in mid-May.
The pool is filled with water that is 60 degrees out of fire trucks and hydrants. Next the process begins to start filtering, adding chemicals to, and heating the pool. The competition pool will be kept at 80 degrees and the warmup pool will be kept at 81 degrees.
After the conclusion of the Olympic Trials, the competition pool will be moved to Minneapolis where a privately funded company will operate the pool for low-income families. The warmup pools have been purchased to be used at the new FAST training complex in Ocala, Florida.
Under the new U.S. Olympic Trials system put in place this year to deal with pandemic protocols, the slower trials qualifiers will swim in the Wave I meet from June 4-7. The top two finishers in each event at that meet will advance to the Wave II meet, where they’ll race the faster qualifiers for spots on the Tokyo 2020 U.S. Olympic Team.
Stuffs gettin real
Which reminds me, I have to pee…
UPDATE: Pool now filled with 1000 gallons.
so you are saying that they are adding 3 gallons/min, wow this will take time before they are done, must be a very small garden hose. (hint see time stamp on their post).
The bucket brigade is hard at work.
I love the comment section
Won’t the water get dirty if it sits there until trials? Probably should’ve filled it a week before in my opinion but that’s just my opinion.
Psssst. It’s a week before Trials start.
(Also the pool has filters. Just like every other pool on earth).
We are 8 days away from Wave 1 starting, so the timing is just right. Also, filtration system and chlorine. This is not some cheap backyard pool.
Don’t worry, there are trained pool drinkers who slurp it hours before the competition, which refines, cleans, and disinfects the water before excreting it again moments before swimmers jump in the water.
Don’t you worry, USA Swimming hired Morris Buttermaker, pool cleaner extraordinaire.