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Groundwater mystery at Budlong Pool revealed during new pool construction. Splash pad opening.
City of Cranston Update Regarding Budlong Pool Complex Construction and New City Splash Pad Facility
On April 3, 2025, the administration of Mayor Ken Hopkins issued the following statement regarding the Budlong pool project and construction of a new water splash pad facility:
On July 16, 2024, after a public bidding process, the City of Cranston’s Board of Contracts and Purchase awarded a contract to construct a new pool facility and partially renovate the existing bathhouse at the Budlong pool complex. The bid was awarded to Vantage Builders of Waltham, Massachusetts. Saccoccio & Associates of Cranston is the architect and the owner’s representative responsible for oversight of the project. The pool facility project is expected to be funded using $4,000,000 of ARPA funds and $750,000 of a Congressional grant administered by the Federal agency, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at no local cost the taxpayers.
The city anticipated that construction of the pool would have commenced soon after the bid award in July. As Federal funds are being used to fund this project, HUD approval to proceed needed to be obtained prior to commencement of construction. Given HUD’s procedural requirements, an outside party exercised their right to become a “consulting party” to the approval process. This involvement is allowed under HUD’s environmental review Section 106 regulations regarding historical preservation of properties. This compliance, however, required that project commencement be held until this procedural process and approval was completed in December 2024.
The contractor had since progressed expeditiously during the winter months, and it was anticipated that completion of the project would take place sometime in July 2025. As of mid-March, the project progressed to near completion of site work of the pool in preparation for pool construction.
On March 13th, during excavation, a sub-contractor exposed an undocumented decades-old aqueduct that was delivering ground water from the abutting city fields to the location of the pool site. On March 20th, the aqueduct was scoped where it was confirmed that the water source was from the nearby fields.
At present, city and vendor engineers propose that, in order to prevent further ground water from entering the pool site, the aqueduct be plugged with sandbags and concrete at a location approximately twenty feet before the end of the aqueduct. Once completed, that area will be dewatered along with any ground water that previously entered the pool excavation site. It is anticipated that all incremental costs associated with this incident will be funded at no local cost to the taxpayers using available ARPA funds.
Although this development is a setback in the project, this finding validates the positions of the aquatic engineer and mayor that ground water was entering the pool causing structural decay leading to the need to replace the pool rather than further invest in a pool that was beyond repair. It was further proven that ground water was entering the pool when, during excavation, ground water continued to re-enter the pool area. In the end, it is favorable that this aqueduct was found as this condition is best remedied before a new pool is installed where related problems could have developed in years later.
This unfortunate and unforeseeable event is expected to delay project completion until the summer months. This delay has jeopardized opening the pool this summer. Due to this delay and anticipating that a public pool may not be available to the city’s youth, the mayor has directed his administration to construct a robust water plash pad nearby to the Budlong pool complex.
The mayor has ordered his administration to place this as a top priority and he expects this new splash pad to be operating for the summer season. Funding for this new splash pad facility will also come to no local cost to the city’s taxpayers by using ARPA funds that have been allocated for city recreation facilities.
Oh goody another splash pad. This is not the urban inner city. A more accurate description of this is that water was being piped under the pool and they hit this pipe hence all the water. This project of the Mayor has been a joke to begin with and a continues to be so. This will surely exceed 4 million dollars now I don’t care how he wants to spin it. And if we get these funds it will be a miracle considering what’s going on in Washington. A debacle and a fiasco is what this project is!
The large drainage pipe was under the existing pool – and no one knew because it was not on any drawings – nor could it be discovered until the pool was excavated that it was there – if you read the mayor’s statement, they could build on top of it but would have problems with water seeping up over and over again – so they are doing the construction right. The original construction was a WPA project, which may have something to do with the lack of documentation. Also, if you read the article, the additional funding for excavation and capping off of the pipe is covered under other budget means.