The Braun Athletic Center features two outdoor swimming pools with designated lap swimming lanes as well as a 6-person spa. Our facility also offers a deck with lounge chairs and patio, providing members a relaxing and enjoyable setting. The pool is utilized for lap swim, community swim, inter-collegiate athletics, physical education and scheduled programming. Our scheduled programming includes: swim lessons, stroke clinics, and water aerobics.
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Recreational Swimming
ADA accessible stairs and pool lift are available for access to the Alumni Pool.
- Lap Swim (For those wishing to swim laps for exercise)
The majority of our use is lap swim for exercise. When lap swimming and the lanes are full, we ask that you share lanes and either split the lane or circle swim. Please work with the instructions of the lifeguard as it relates to where you get your lane, when you come to swim. While we understand the importance of personal preferences, we need to share space to ensure space remains available for all users. When the pools are set for lap swim, lane lines may not be moved for individual use.
There are kickboards and pull buoys available for use at the pool. You may bring your own goggles and snorkels and fins for use.
- Family Swim (Best time for children, weak swimmers or uses other than lap swim, to use pool)
Sometimes non-lap swim configuration is desirable, for example, with younger children, for aqua jogging or other therapeutic uses, largely for use in a shallower water environment. During Community Swim all lanes will be taken out of Alumni Pool with a rope at mid-pool to section off the shallow and deep ends. Community swim will be offered when we have staffing to cover both pools in concurrent use. The lane lines will be reconfigured to allow for shallow water general access. It is of course a critical expectation that when members bring young children or non-swimming children to the pool that they are active supervisors, in the water with their children.Â
We will offer swim lessons to beginning swimmers, depending on staff availability.
- Water Aerobics (Tuesday/Wednesday and Friday 12pm; June 3rd- august 15th)
We are pleased to be able to return this popular group fitness class, based on staff availability.
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Safety and General Pool Expectations
Member safety is critical to our mission and having appropriate supervision on deck and safety awareness at all times is important to our operation. We will not open our pools for recreational swimming without a certified lifeguard present. We must have at least two lifeguards present in order to offer community swim when beginning or weak swimmers are present.     Lifeguards are present to supervise and when necessary respond to emergency issues. Please let them focus on the water and do not strike up lengthy conversations with them while on duty. We set general pool rules as expectations for community behavior in line with safe use of the facility for all members.
- General Pool Expectations
Accessible in full HERE.
- Inclement Weather: Heavy Rain/Thunder/Lightning
All outdoor aquatics activities will be canceled immediately in the event of inclement weather. Inclement weather is defined as:
       - Moderate to heavy rain preventing aquatics staff from seeing the bottom of the pool.
       - Thunder or lighting within an 8 mile range or from the last time it is seen or heard. Activity will be halted for at least 30 minutes or until the thunder and lightning activity are out of the 8 mile range. This policy is in place in part to protect our staff and member safety.Â
When air temps are above 90 degrees, the spa will temporarily be closed. The spa will re-open once the air temp falls below 90 degrees.
When the local air quality is poor ( fire, smog, high pollen counts or other environmental hazards), we will continually evaluate the air quality to determine whether the pools can remain operational. The decision whether or not to close the facility may be affected by many factors such as fires, daily temperatures and winds.  Generally a closure would be triggered by an AQI of 150The following matrix will be used to guide our decision.
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Facility Maintenance and Operational Challenges
An outdoor swimming pool is a complex system. The water chemistry is influenced by water and water temperature, air temperature,  chemicals and cleanliness (bather load and other debris) Outdoor pools are especially susceptible to the nuance of air composition and temperature as well as chemical balance. Water chemistry is critical to safety and influenced quickly by several factors, often out of our control.  Our pools are very old and the mechanical systems that operate them have been repaired multiple times. We are planning for and working toward complete renovation of both pools and the mechanical systems. Until we are able to renovate the pools, we strive to reduce pool closure time as best we can by monitoring and reacting quickly, with campus facilities team to adjust.
Pool FAQ
- What chemicals do you use in the pool/spa?
We use liquid chlorine as our sanitizing agent. We also use muriatic acid and Co2 to help regulate the pH of the pools.
- What level do you keep the pool/spa chemicals at?
We typically keep our chlorine between 1ppm and 5ppm, for pH we range between 7.2 and 7.6.
- What temperature do you keep your pool/spa?
The pool temperature ranges between 78-81 degrees and the spa 104 degrees.
- How do you heat the pools?
Both of our pools are heated by steam from our campus steam plant.
- Do you heat the pools during the summer?
We do not heat the pools during the summer; as the air temperature heats up, so does the pool water.
- Are you pools cooled during the summer months?Â
No, we do not cool the pools during the summer months. Typically even during the heat of summer the pool temps do not go above 82-84 degrees.
