That Grafingen outdoor pool opens its doors on Saturday, May 7th – and the people in the region can count themselves lucky, more than ever. Because: “Some don’t even open,” says plant manager Sandra Friesinger, “because of the lack of skilled workers and the high energy costs.” So these are difficult times, also for bathrooms, even though the pandemic should no longer play a role this summer. In any case, Friesinger does not expect that there will be any restrictions in this regard again.
Nevertheless, the swimmers in Grafing will feel the tense situation: The water temperature was lowered by two degrees this year, from 26 to 24 degrees. Firstly, to save costs, but also because of the war in Ukraine and its aftermath. “You shouldn’t be wasteful at the moment,” says Friesinger, referring to Germany’s dependence on supplies from Russia. In addition, a possible energy crisis will also affect the Grafinger outdoor pool, that is already certain. “In this respect, we very much hope that it will not come to that.” Incidentally, the water is heated with district heating from a local energy supplier.
The city has increased prices, but also invested in a modern checkout system
In order to reduce the deficit of the municipal facility – most recently around 500,000 euros a year – the city council has also decided to increase the admission prices: guests have to add 50 cents to the one-time tickets, the ten-tickets cost two euros more, the prices for the season tickets have increased in stages: for children it increases from 25 to 27 euros, for those entitled to a discount (pupils and students, severely disabled people, Bufdis and owners of volunteer cards) from 35 to 37 euros, for adults from 75 to 80 euros. The season ticket for families now costs 140 euros instead of 130. But there doesn’t seem to be any criticism of this, at least so far the response has been sympathetic, says Friesinger.
A water area of around 1200 square meters, a diving platform, a wide slide and much more are on offer.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
The Grafinger outdoor pool sells around a thousand season tickets every summer, and this time too many have been booked in advance, says the boss. However, there is a big innovation this year: “The city has again taken money in hand and switched to a modern checkout system.” In the future, the season tickets will no longer be made of paper, but plastic, “like an EC card with a picture.” The portrait for this is shot directly at the checkout and then printed electronically on the card, not punched as before. “It’s a lot less work for us,” says Friesinger happily – but the guests should also be enthusiastic. Because from now on, the season tickets no longer have to be shown at the ticket booth, but can be scanned at a turnstile. That means: The processing is faster, the queue is shorter.
As far as visitors with a day ticket are concerned, however, the decision was made against a closed checkout system, says Friesinger. “Firstly, we want to maintain personal contact with our guests, and such machines are also very error-prone. We saw that in Ebersberg.”
It is currently still uncertain whether the occupancy of the pool can still be displayed online
The operations manager would also like to keep an innovation from the Corona period: a counter that shows the occupancy of the outdoor pool online. In this way, the guests were able to find out in advance how promising a trip to the swimming facility would be. Now it’s just that – with the end of the pandemic restrictions – the second exit towards the parking lot will be open again. In this respect, it is not yet known whether it is technically feasible to record the number of guests and publish them online in real time, explains Friesinger. Just for classification: Before Corona, when the weather was nice, there were 2000 visitors a day in the Grafinger outdoor pool.
Incidentally, access is still only possible via the Grafinger Ostumgehung, the road past the middle school blocked by bollards. “But everything is signposted with large banners,” says lifeguard Friesinger, who was partly on the road as a pilot last year.
Wanting the guests to feel good: Dejan Vrunc, Moricz Rampf, Sophia Bachmeier, Sandra Friesinger and Claudio Minicuta (from left).
(Photo: Christian Endt)
As far as the staff is concerned, the Grafinger outdoor pool is well positioned: six permanent employees and three additional staff will take care of the operation and the safety of the bathers. “We always try to manage everything well, after all, people should feel comfortable with us.” Swimming courses, according to Friesinger a very popular offer, should also take place again. There is also something to celebrate this year: the Grafinger swimming facility is 50 years old, it was built for the Olympic Games in Munich. If you want to make a note of the date: On Saturday, July 16, the outdoor pool invites you to a birthday party with live music, a twelve-hour swim, diving courses and various other activities. Numerous old photographs are already hanging in the display case, which can be used to understand the change in the bathroom.
Most recently, in 2021, the site in the north was significantly expanded so that there is now enough space for sunbathing areas, a table tennis table, a volleyball court, swings and a climbing frame. The extra wide swimming lanes from the Corona summer, which Friesinger says many guests enjoyed very much, will no longer be available this year. “You can’t do that at full capacity, otherwise the non-swimmer area will be bursting at the seams,” explains the boss.
Before the swimmers and splashers come, everything is cleaned with high pressure.
(Photo: Christian Endt)
You can clearly see the joy that things can start again – in regular operation. “We are perfectly prepared,” says Friesinger. But that is not a matter of course, because bringing the bathroom out of hibernation means a lot of effort under high conditions and takes several weeks. First of all, the pools, which are filled with water even in winter to protect against frost, have to be drained, then everything is literally cleaned “with high pressure” and all the technology – pipes, nozzles, flaps, filters – is reassembled and checked. The pools hold 1.6 million liters of water, and according to Friesinger it takes three days to fill them with a fire hose. The system is fed with well water, which is pumped up on the outdoor pool area itself. However, this does not reach the swimmer without first being microbiologically analyzed, brought to specific pH and chlorine levels and heated. “It takes at least another two weeks for this cycle to level out,” says the operations manager.
But now the water is ready, all the stainless steel is polished and the lawn is mowed – only the guests are missing.
That’s open Grafingen outdoor pool in good weather from 7.45 a.m. to 8 p.m., in bad weather from 7.45 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The “early swimmer Wednesday” starts at 7 a.m.