Stockton Pool Faces Costly Cleanup After Vandals Throw Motor Oil Over Fence
STOCKTON (CBS13) — A careless act of vandalism has turned a Stockton pool into an oily mess after someone dumped motor oil into the neighborhood pool that serves hundreds of kids.
There were a lot of disappointed kids in Stockton on Monday after they found swim team practice was canceled. And it may stay closed for the summer.
It will take more than a little chlorine to clean up the oil slick at Holiday Park Pool in Stockton.
Pool association president Eric Fosgate figures someone chucked a one-gallon jug of used motor oil over the fence. It splattered on the concrete and the jug slid into the pool.
Practice for the Tyler Respicio and the Otters swim team is on hold indefinitely.
"We won't be able to practice at all," he said. "It sucks because like our team has been working really hard for all of our meets and stuff, and this kinda stops us."
The timing couldn't be worse as the pool was gearing up for a busy summer.
"This just totally shuts us down; we don't have the money to come back and clean this up. I don't know how we're going to get this oil out of the pool," Fosgate said.
The cleanup goes beyond getting the oil out of the water. Fosgate worries it's already seeped into the pumps and other equipment. They're looking at a pricey repair that could cost thousands and drain an already-thin budget that keeps the pool up and running.
"I just don't know how much this is going to cost to clean," Fosgate said.
Since it's a holiday, nobody was around to come out and take a look at the damage and provide an estimate.
