Myrtha Pools and the Aquatic Centre in Windsor have blown ‘all clear’ for the pool to resume hosting duties, a spokesperson for the facility told SwimSwam today. The pool had been barred from hosting national events after it was discovered that the pool had a current that significantly influenced competition at the 2018 Eastern Canadian Championships in April.
“The issues have noe been corrected to the standards of the manufacturer and City of Windsor,” the spokesperson says. Swimming Canada has not made comment yet on whether they are ready to accept the fixes.
A press release from the City of Windsor says that the issue caused a clock-wise water current when configured in its 50-meter mode. A & T Europe Spa, aka Myrtha Pools, was brought on site to run a number of tests on the pool. From the release:
“Myrtha Pools performed testing including water treatment or filtration system design checks, performed fluid dynamics computations, completed swimmer simulations with computer modelling and in-person testing, the FINA Appreciable Current Test and assessed water temperature. Equipment used included an ultrasonic flow meter, electromagnetic flow meter and endoscopy. Testing and analysis was done in daily programming configuration as well as 50-metre or long course competition configuration.”
There were to main causes and two more “minor” causes identified, and according to the city, resolved:
- Removal of a plug installed to restrict cold water from being introduced into the thermal section of the pool
- Clearing of aggregate debris from several water inlets
- Mass flow calibration of the pool
- Balancing the inlet distribution on the east and west sides of the pool.
After making those changes, Myrtha conducted additional current testing and declared the problem fixed.
The Windsor pool, which is not the same as was used to host the 2016 World Short Course Championships in the city (that was a temporary facility built in a hockey arena).
This is not the first time that there has been suspicions of a current in a Myrtha pool, though it is the first time where a governing body has publicly acknowledged and required a fix for such a current. Mathematical modeling showed the possibility of a current in the pool at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, which FINA denied, saying they had been ‘assured’ that it wasn’t true, as did Myrtha. That denial came in spite of the fact that the test event in the Rio Olympic pool showed the same mathematical bias.
Accusations of a biased pool also arose after the 2013 World Championship pool after a statistical analysis was published by a pair of Harvard students.
The full press release from the City of Windsor is below:
Windsor’s premier water training and competition facility is in top form and ready to host any-and-all events.
This after the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre (WIATC) Presented by WFCU Credit Union, received a visit from Italian maker Myrtha Pools.
A & T Europe Spa (Myrtha Pools) was contacted in April 2018 following concerns brought forward during the 2018 Eastern Canadian Swimming Championships. The concerns were related to a suspected water current in the Natatorium at WIATC.
A team from Myrtha attended to determine the root cause or causes to a main clock-wise water current affecting swimmers when the pool is configured in 50-metre or long course competition mode.
While on site Myrtha Pools performed testing including water treatment or filtration system design checks, performed fluid dynamics computations, completed swimmer simulations with computer modelling and in-person testing, the FINA Appreciable Current Test and assessed water temperature. Equipment used included an ultrasonic flow meter, electromagnetic flow meter and endoscopy. Testing and analysis was done in daily programming configuration as well as 50-metre or long course competition configuration.
Two main root causes and two minor root causes were discovered and have been resolved. This included removal of a plug installed to restrict cold water being introduced into the thermal section of the pool, clearing of aggregate debris from several inlets, mass flow calibration of the pool and balancing the inlet distribution on the east and west sides of the pool. Myrtha Pools performed additional post-resolution testing in 50-metre or long course competition configuration to ensure the root causes had been accurately identified and that the concerns regarding a current in the pool had been rectified.
Apparently Miami of Ohio has a current in the outside lanes.