Severe heating, ventilation and piping issues within the Linsey pool building in the Gosman Sports and Convocation Center may close the 41-year-old pool permanently because repairs and replacements could cost up to $1 million and other future problems are likely, Vice President of Campus Operations Mark Collins said. "The prognosis is not good," Collins told the Justice in an interview, explaining that two weeks ago the second of the two heaters for the pool failed. The first heater failed a few months ago. At the beginning of last week the air handling system that heats and ventilates the pool building shut off completely.

The University "can't guarantee the reliability of the pool even after spending this money. . This is a very old facility that needs many dollars of work," Collins said.

Director of Athletics Sheryl Sousa said the Athletics department closed the pool indefinitely last Tuesday because the water temperature had dropped from its normal range of 78 to 81 degrees to 71 degrees, and the air temperature in the room is too cold.

Collins wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that engineers are doing reviews of the problems, which will take about six weeks.

"If the remediation costs are as high as I believe they are (the costs will be in the millions to fix all the problems), we do not have the funds available this fiscal year, and it is likely the funds will not be available in [fiscal year] 2010," Collins wrote in the e-mail.

Sousa said the swimming and diving team is currently practicing at Regis College and Bentley University and is "going with the worst-case scenario," that they will have to practice at these alternative locations for the rest of the season.

Collins told the Justice that the pool is definitely closed while the problems are being assessed because there is no heat in the pool or locker rooms and no regulation for the water temperature.

Parts and materials to replace the heaters are no longer readily available, Collins said, because they are outdated. Facilities is looking into re-engineering the parts, which would cost a couple hundred thousand dollars at minimum, he said.

He said it is unlikely that the University would spend the estimated $400,000 to $500,000 to replace the air handling system, a process that could take 12 to 15 weeks minimum.

Assistant Facilities Manager Joe Delisle said the air handling system is made of galvanized steel, which is corroded from the chlorine. He said current systems are made of stainless steel.

Collins explained that the Facilities department discovered when looking at the air handling system last week that piping that re-circulates the water back into the pool and maintains the water temperature had also failed.

Facilities shut down the filtration and circulation systems in the pool, Collins said, because the pipes were dumping chlorinated water into the mechanical room below the pool. It would cost an estimated $200,000 to $300,000 to replace the piping, he said.

The swim team may need to relocate to other facilities in the future if the problems cannot be fixed, he said.

Head swim coach Jim Zotz wrote in an e-mail to the Justice, "I prefer not to speculate on the status of the pool and when it might be repaired, as I have no control over that decision."

Swimmer Rachel Sawicki '10 said every year the swim team has "some kind of problem," which has necessitated that they practice in another location for about a week while the problem was being fixed.

"The problem with the pool temperature has been a consistent [sic] problem. Along with

the pool being overtreated and undertreated chemically, the temperature has forced us out of the pool the greatest number of times," Zotz wrote.

Delisle said that when pipes have failed in the past, Facilities has made "temporary patches."

Women's swim team captain Rachel Nadas '09 said Sousa and Associate Athletics Director Lynne Dempsey told the team on Friday that the problems are "more extensive than can be fixed right now."

Nadas said the team "definitely wants to work with Athletics or our coach to do whatever we can to make this a priority for the school. It's important to us and definitely for Brandeis to have a great facility."

Men's swim team captain Mike Rubin '09 said the team has "acted really positively" and accepted the situation.

Despite positive attitudes, swimmer Lisa Rice '10 admitted that, "We've all invested a lot of time and energy into swimming. . The current situation is concerning and pretty frustrating in general."

Zotz wrote in his e-mail that afternoon practices will now take place from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at Regis College. He said there are no more home meets this semester.

"I do not expect our team and individual goals to change from when they were set in September. . I expect that the team will become even more solidified and form a closer bond due to this challenge," Zotz wrote in his e-mail.