By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
A splash pad for Mona City is not likely to be built in the near future because of the cost.
A splash pad was suggested as a feature that could be installed where the present city building is located after that building is torn down.
"I did some research," said Michelle Dalton, city secretary/treasurer.
She said she had discussed the Santaquin City splash pad with a city official from that city. She said that she was told that the park, which was opened in June 2010, had included a splash pad as part of a larger park development project.
The park is located at 800 South Summit Ridge Parkway.
The splash pad had a construction cost of approximately $50,000 which put it out of the range of the city at present.
Small commercial pads start at $30,000. Depending on the features, even a small residential back-yard splash pad may cost between $8,000 and $20,000, according to a Google search. Those splash pads do not need the water care that municipal pools require for public safety.
"I was also told that parts are expensive," she said. "One part costs $1,200 and they have had to replace that part twice."
She said that she had been told that maintenance at the splash pad was a constant.
They have to paint the surface with a non-skid paint every other year.
Of course, brushed concrete is less expensive and most common splash pad surface, enhancing the safety and overall accessibility of the amenity.
However, the resilient synthetic surfacing is better suited to withstand the rigors of sun, chlorinated water and bacteria compared to previous formulations. Those formulations need upkeep.
"The water used needs to be conserved," said Dalton.
Exactly what percentage of a splash pad's features are active at any given time often depends on a most fundamental design consideration: the type of system specified. There are two approaches to splash pad mechanics: the flow-through system and the recirculating system.
In a flow-through system, water from a potable source is pumped onto the pad and allowed to drain into a municipality's storm system or to be repurposed as irrigation.
This method requires no water treatment and testing (nor the corresponding expense and staffing expertise), but water consumed by such a system is concerning. It takes approximately 10 million gallons over the course of a season.
A recirculating system operates more like a pool and needs chemicals, filters and pumps. Water is sent to the pad from a tank roughly four to five times the system's flow rate. So if the splash pad's features are operating at the extremely high flow rate of 2,500 gallons per minute, for example, a 10,000-gallon tank is required to allow the system to properly maintain water quality.
During typical operating hours (9 a.m. to dusk, for example), splash pads are user-activated. A child touches a bollard, which signals a controller to activate a percentage of play features for a preprogrammed period of time (say, four minutes).
