Help Eisenschmidt Pool Install a New Boiler!

Eisenschmidt Pool was founded in 1939 under the Work Project Administration. At the time, 11,000 pools were built as part of the WPA to help rebuild America’s economy. As of today, we are one of 8 pools still functioning under that project.

Eisenschmidt Pool was built because 3 people drowned in the Columbia River in 1936. It was apparent the community needed a safe place for people to swim, as well as a place for water education. Since the pool has been built, thousands of children have been taught swimming lessons and other water safety skills, preventing drownings in our area.

We offer a wide variety of activities to help people stay active and healthy. In addition, we provide classes to educate people about life-saving skills outside of aquatics. Here is some of what we offer:

· Swimming Lessons to all ages, including a week of free swimming lessons to children in the community, as well as 3rd grade group school lessons

· CPR/AED/First Aid classes

· Babysitting with CPR and First Aid classes

· Water Aerobics

· Lap swimming and water walking

· Kid’s Night Out fundraisers for non-profits in the community

· Three swim teams training facility; Sea Lions Swim team, a recreational year-round club team, Scappoose High School and St. Helens High school swim teams

The pool provides employment to 25-30 people from Columbia County.  The job of lifeguarding and teaching swimming to our community is a great learning experience for anyone, especially our high school age youth who are beginning their life long working career.  We have had several staff begin here with their first job and advance into EMTs, nurse practitioners, dentists, police, forest rangers, and military careers. 

Over this last year, the pool has suffered from many problems. Due to COVID, the pool had to shut operations for over 6 months since March 2020, causing the layoff of 22 employees. During that time, a major leak was discovered in one of the filtration tanks, costing the pool $20,000 and was repaired in June 2020.   We then discovered the need to replace our existing 1992 gas boiler, which is not functioning properly and is no longer serviceable, with two smaller energy efficient boilers.  The two boilers will each work at 97% efficiency saving energy and money.  In the event one boiler fails or needs service, the other boiler will take over eliminating the possible need for a pool closure.  Our pool dimensions are 110 x 50 and holds 230,000 gallons of water. The materials and labor bid for the total project is $108,677 which includes 2x75% Boilers, 2xpumps and 2xheat exchangers.  The Energy Trust of Oregon is providing an Energy Trust Incentive of $26,240 and a 2020 Custom Bonus Incentive of $14,129, totaling $40,369.  Our financial responsibility will be approximately $70,000.

Water temperatures dropped significantly during a winter storm that ripped through the area, causing the pool to lose water. This created a ripple effect because the pool needed more water which in turn, raised the water and heating bill because the boiler could not keep up with the amount of water needed to heat the pool.

Now, we are asking the community for their help. We were able to come up with $40,000 of the money needed for the new boiler, but we still need to come up with an additional $70,000. We love this community and wish to continue serving it, but we need your help to do it! Please, if we have been able to impact your life or your child’s life, please consider donating. We also would like to thank you in advance for your donations. We couldn’t do what we do without your generosity and support!