Contractor David Dumm, second from left, discusses his company’s installation of a rubberized lining around the new fountain in Goodale Park’s leaking pond.
City officials and volunteers at Goodale Park are holding their breath to see whether the latest attempt to fix the park’s leaking pond works.
The newest fix is a rubberized lining around the base of the pond’s 750,000-pound fountain. The idea is that it will stop the leak or at least rule out the fountain as the cause.
“It appears that should solve the problem with any possibility of the base of the fountain leaking,” said David Dumm, president of Procon Professional Construction Services, which installed the lining.
The pond has been unable to hold water since the Friends of Goodale Park installed a fountain topped by two spouting elephants last year.
The city spent $144,600 in April to line the bottom with a clay called bentonite.
Jason Kentner, president of Friends of Goodale Park, said: “In the spring, given that we had done the amount of work adding clay to the base, the leak was much different. It was at most 2 inches a day.
“Previously, it had been as much as a foot a day. We knew that we had addressed some part of the issue.”
Friends of Goodale Park is paying Procon $8,500 to complete the repair project, Kentner said.
“We certainly hope this fixes the problem,” said Alan McKnight, Columbus Recreation and Parks director.
Contractors will use the well there to slowly add water to the pond. If the water level rises, a fire hydrant will be used to completely fill it on June 25.
“We’ll run (the pond) off the well while festivals are going on,” Kentner said. “If we see 10 inches of water, then we’d feel like we’re addressing the issue and feel confident that putting water back in would be the appropriate next step.”
But not until after the Columbus Pride Festival this weekend and ComFest the next weekend. A fence has been put up to keep people out.
“The city (is) ... concerned about people falling in,” Kentner said.
It hasn’t completely worked.
“You can see all kinds of shoe prints all in the bottom of the pond. It’s clear people have been in there,” said Terri Leist, assistant director of Columbus Recreation and Parks.
“There’s a possibility they could compromise the surface of the pond floor and potentially cause another leak.”
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