The pristine surface of the water is still as smooth as glass, but on Monday the first students will plunge back into the pools. For two and a half years, the only public indoor swimming pool in the Rheingau was closed. A bitter setback for swimming lessons in the entire wine region. No fewer than 17 schools use the pool to teach children how to swim. In addition, there are clubs such as the DLRG and the Rheingau diving club, which rely on swimming pools like the one in Geisenheim. Canoeists also practice in the swimming pool.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent of the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis and for Wiesbaden.

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If the city had seen Corona and the associated restrictions coming early, it might have been able to synchronize the inevitable renovation work even better with the pandemic and possibly shorten it. But Mayor Christian Aßmann (independent) is not a clairvoyant, and the craftsmen were only allowed to lend a hand anyway after the funding agencies had submitted their commitments to the city.

There are two grantors:

The renovation, which cost around 3.3 million euros, was only possible thanks to the unusual double funding from the federal and state governments. The state of Hesse had even gone ten percent beyond the requested subsidy and had granted 1.1 million euros from the state program "Swim". The federal government contributed one million euros. Geisenheim has to raise about 1.2 million euros himself. This is almost 500,000 euros more than initially hoped, but the costs and duration of such renovation projects can rarely be precisely predicted beforehand.

The renovation of the indoor swimming pool is a commitment that Geisenheim will preserve the water areas for the entire Rheingau and that swimming lessons will be guaranteed. This is not a matter of course for a municipality with less than 12,000 inhabitants. Ten years ago, Geisenheim was forced to take over the pool after the Rheingau-Taunus district and the city of Rüdesheim were forced to terminate their participation in the joint municipal association Rheingaubad due to the strict conditions of the financial protective shield.

This association had operated the pool since its opening in 1974, which was visited by almost 200,000 water lovers in the year before the pandemic. With the dissolution of the association, there had been an advance payment of 2.5 million euros for Geisenheim from the district and a one-off payment of 1.25 million euros from Rüdesheim. In each case, this corresponded to ten times the proportionate annual deficit. For Geisenheim, however, this was subject to the condition that the pool would continue to operate for at least ten years.

For a long time, it was unclear what would happen after that because of the high renovation and operating costs. However, the municipal bath is not considered a luxury, but an essential part of the infrastructure of the wine region and indispensable for school, club and popular sports as well as for tourism.

After the closure of the pool in November 2020, it took another six months before the work could finally begin. The official opening will take place on Saturday, and the first Geisenheim students will be registered for swimming lessons at 8 a.m. on Monday. You will enter an indoor swimming pool that is not only brighter, more modern, friendlier and more spacious than it was three years ago, but also offers new attractions such as an extended sauna area, a children's slide at the non-swimmer pool and a water climbing wall in the diving pool.

"The demand is huge"

However, almost two-thirds of the investment sum can only be admired during the dive: the lining of all pools with stainless steel plates. Compared to the previous tiles, the steel has many advantages. The swimmers do not have to fear that it could be more uncomfortable in the water than before the energy crisis as a result of the Ukraine war. The water is heated to 26-28 degrees. However, the combined heat and power plant is operated with gas, and the consumption of 1.3 million kilowatt hours per year will be reflected in the operating cost calculation in view of the current prices.

Against this background, Assmann is not angry about the foreseeable persistent, changeable and rainy weather. This could bring the indoor pool many paying guests even in summer, even if the single ticket now costs six instead of four euros. All in all, however, the two operations managers Alexandra Büger and Jochen Quasten are not worried about the encouragement of the water lovers. Rather, it is the case that they cannot serve all requests for swimming times. "The demand is huge," says Quasten. Before the pandemic, up to 400 visitors a day crowded into the pool, which nevertheless does not limit tickets by the hour in order to increase capacity.

Mayor Aßmann expects a deficit of around 400,000 euros this year due to the operation. It is helpful that the Rheingau-Taunus district, as a school authority, subsidizes swimming lessons with 78,000 euros annually. In addition, even before Corona and the start of the renovation, an appeal for solidarity to the other Rheingau municipalities had shown success. The six other Rheingau cities and municipalities want to transfer two euros per inhabitant to Geisenheim in the future. Geisenheim can therefore expect around 2024,100 euros annually from 000 onwards.

On the occasion of the upcoming reopening, the DLRG expressly praised the courage of the city to have faced the sole sponsorship of the pool, which is in need of renovation. Chairman Markus Hölzel appeals to the other six Rheingau municipalities to support Geisenheim with its operating costs. The agreed solidarity contribution of two euros per inhabitant per year is "a good thing", but the inflation rate must also be taken into account in the future, because Geisenheim is struggling with rising costs.