Power outages lower water level at Marpi pool, cancel swim meet

The Swimming Center Tsunami Saipan-Saipan Swim Club monthly meet joined the growling lists of events which were either suspended or rescheduled due to the rolling power outages.

SSC coach Michael Blasberg in a telephone interview said the first monthly meet between his swimmers and the Tsunamis had to wait for next month because of the low water level at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi

The meet was supposed to take place this Saturday, but water level at the Marpi pool is about below its normal level, making the facility inappropriate and risky for a tournament.

Frequent and long power outages make it hard for the maintenance team of the Marianas Resort Development Company to change and supply water in the pool.

“We will be waiting for Marianas Resort’s go-ahead signal if the pool is ready for the tournament. We can’t do anything about it, we can’t put our swimmers at risk, swimming in a shallow pool,” Blasberg said.

Stan Good, Tsunami Saipan president, said for now they are using the pool for practices.

“Tsunami Saipan can’t do anything about the power outage. We just need to make use of what we have now and be extra cautious when plunging into the pool, especially when one flips” Good said.

The Kan Pacific Swimming Pool is a 50-meter pool. Its depth from the starting block when the water level is normal is 5’9”, but now it is down to 5’2”, according to lifeguard Emil Sereno.

The water level at other end of the starting block is down to 2’0” from 3’0”, while the middle part of the pool, which should be at 7’9”, is now at 7’2”.

Gary De Guzman, another lifeguard, said last week the water level was very low, as the power went off three times a day.

Tuesday, the water level was a few inches below its normal level. Yesterday, the water level improved, as it rained Tuesday and early morning Wednesday, and the power went off only once.

In yesterday’s practice, Rezne Wong, who stands 5’11”, had to do a half-flip on the other end of the pool, for safety purposes. The same goes with Cooper Graf and Kai Staal, who are only a few inches shorter than Wong.

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. said in its news releases that power outages on Saipan would be lessen by mid September once the generators it will lease from Aggreko International arrive. The first shipment of the London-based company arrived on Saipan from Singapore, two weeks ago.

Power outages forced cancellation of games in the PTI and Rotary basketball tournament at the Gilbert C. Ad Gymnasium. The power crisis also frustrated the Rangers and Rock Steady who spent three agonizing week at the Francisco “Tan Ko” Palacios Ballfield before finishing the title series in the 2008 Budweiser Saipan Major League.