It's Leaking

Investigators found the leak

About Town – TUESDAY, 5/12/26

The indoor pool at Hutchins Street Square is leaking, according to Siegfried Engineering, Inc. and Pacific Coast Leak Detection. An investigation found an “active seepage” at the deep end of the pool, which was once used by Lodi Union High Schoolers when the site was the East Campus. An inspection also found multiple stress fractures within the Gunite substrate, say city officials. So the city is going to fix the situation with a medium-term solution using a pressure epoxy injection to restore the integrity of the concrete shell and mitigate hydrostatic leakage. The cost is $40,000, but the Hutchins Street Square Foundation is paying for it with a donation to the city. “This project’s proposed remediation serves as a medium-term structural solution until a comprehensive remodel and plaster resurfacing project can be phased into the Capital Improvement Plan,” says Christina Jaromay, parks, rec and cultural services chief. The indoor pool was built in about 1923 along with the school’s science building, auto shop, and auditorium.

GOING UP: Rates are going up. Again. The city council will hold a public hearing on June 17 to consider raising the monthly wastewater (sewer) fee by 2.6%, effective July 1. “The proposed rate adjustments are needed to generate sufficient revenue to meet projected operation and maintenance costs and debt service obligations, as well as necessary current and future capital maintenance improvements,” says Interim Public Works Director Sean Nathan. At present the wastewater fund is fat, exceeding the operating reserves target. But the surplus will be needed to fund wastewater capital expenditures of more than $27 million over the next five years without borrowing, says Nathan.

MONEY COUNTS: As of the end of March the city’s cash coffers were