Splashy Celebration for Reopening of YMCA’s Flood-Damaged 50M Pool [Photos/Video]

There was water, water everywhere Sunday, Jan. 5, at the Riverbrook Regional/Wilton Family YMCA, but this time it was GOOD news. Wilton YMCA officials were celebrating the reopening of the facility’s 50-meter pool after historic flooding last August damaged the pool so significantly that it required $500,000 worth of repairs.

Fixing the pool is just one part of the overall effort to repair the damage from the floodwaters. The Wilton Family YMCA Flood Relief Appeal has an ambitious goal to raise $4.2 million that officials say is needed for the organization to fully repair and recover from the August storms.

Being able to cut the ribbon on the newly opened pool buoyed everyone’s outlook, as Riverbrook YMCA CEO Christene Freedman led board members, YMCA staff, First Selectman Toni Boucher and Y members in the celebration.

“While we saw catastrophic damage in August, at the same time we saw hope — we saw hope because of the overwhelming love and support from our community and neighbors. And because of that, we are here today,” Freedman said.

YMCA Board First Vice Chair Greg Pinchbeck thanked the businesses and individuals who helped underwrite much of the fundraising so far, including the Foster Family Fund, Jane and Moses Alexander, the Lafond family, the Rotary Club of Wilton, the Wilton Kiwanis Club and the Louis Dreyfus Company.

Boucher praised the efforts that started immediately following the flooding to support what she called “a gem and treasure of the community and for the surrounding towns.”

“There are very few 50-meter pools in the entire state and it’s allowed our Wahoo students to achieve national recognition. So when they found the cracks it was a serious situation. But they got in here, everybody came to the rescue and worked super hard, and only four months later it’s ready to go, ready for action, ready for more competitions and more exercising… so healthy for everyone. So congratulations!” Boucher said.

Freedman gave some insight into how the pool’s closure impacted the entire community, and why officials knew every day counted in the push to get the repairs completed as quickly as possible.

“On a weekly basis, the pool serves thousands of people. We have members coming for lap swim, members coming with their families for rec[reational] swim. We host the Wilton High School boys and girls swim team practices here (at no cost to the town, that’s our gift). This is also home to the Wilton Wahoos Swim Team — there’s about 200 young athletes. We also have Special Olympics as well as water aerobics for our seniors. 
It’s a regional pool, it’s not just for Wilton — we have [residents from] over 30 towns coming into this pool. And not to mention swim meets — when we have swim meets, we usually tell Village Market because [Village Market manager] Nancy [Dolnier] says, if you don’t tell me, I know when you have a swim meet because everyone comes into the center of town for food to eat, to shop, to go to the restaurants. So our swim meets are really about economic development for the whole town,” Freedman said.

Better Than Before

Shortly after the August flood, YMCA officials learned the pool was no longer holding any water. After draining the pool completely, they discovered cracks at the bottom. Engineers found that the floodwaters had surged underneath the pool, lifting it up and developing voids, causing an imbalance that led to the cracks.

“The really good news was it wasn’t a sinkhole under the pool. That would have been a very different story, and we probably wouldn’t be opening the pool until May at Memorial Day,” Freedman said.

After the cracks were filled in and the gutter system (which had also been leaking) was replaced, the pool repair crew added a curtain wall to which a brand-new liner could be attached. 


“A liner also helps keep the water inside the pool. We’ve never had a liner before. This is a thick PVC material liner specially designed and manufactured for this pool,” Freedman said, adding that it’s the same type of liner used in Olympic pools and something that will also extend the life of the pool.

It also gives the water a very crystal-clear, Caribbean-blue look, and swimmers have reported appreciating the change from a plaster pool to a smooth-lined one.

“The feedback has been wonderful, and it has really helped with the water quality in the pool,” Freedman said.

Wilton YMCA Board Vice Chair Michael Crystal agreed that reopening the pool quickly was vital.

“In many ways, the Y, like the library and other institutions, they’re the centers of our community. And the devastation we faced and the adversity and the willingness of the staff and others to pitch in and get us back to where we should be, with people coming back, seeing the beauty of the pool and the surroundings, it’s just wonderful,” Crystal said. “
There’s no other way to describe it.”

Visit the Wilton YMCA donation page to support the Flood Relief Campaign.