Checks and balances: are you prepared for summer? Here's a checklist of important steps to properly open your facility for the coming swim season.(maintenance of swimming pools)

After a long winter, it's time to wake the hibernating swimming pool and rouse it for the upcoming summer season. And as every operator knows, that requires more than just pulling leaves out with a skimmer and turning everything back on.

"There's such a plethora of things that have to happen," before opening the gates to the public, says Lee Yarger, coordinator of aquatics at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.

This plethora of activity can range from sweeping leaves out of the locker room to lubricating motor parts to replastering an entire pool. As Memorial Day rounds the comer, the public is ready for swim season. Are you? Here's everything you need to know to start the season off right.

STARTING UP

[] HE WHO CLOSED THE POOL, OPENS THE POOL. "How you open the pool for the season depends on how properly it was closed down in the first place," says Alison Osinski, Ph.D., president of Aquatic Consulting Services in San Diego. The person who closed the pool knows what was done and where everything is. If this person cannot be present, he or she should have left a list and map where everything was placed. Equipment, nuts and bolts, chemicals, and the like should be visibly labeled and stored in an organized manner.

[] GET AN EARLY START. Give yourself at least a month before opening day to fire up the pool, experts say. If budgets don't allow for a month, take no less than three weeks. "Conduct inventory and surveys months earlier," Osinski advises. She says this is a recurring problem, and suppliers can vouch for it. "How many people call the week before opening day and need 900 lifeguard swimsuits because it never occurred to them to order swimsuits for their staff?" she asks. Draw up a to-do list to follow each year. The list should include turning on utilities, requesting chemical deliveries, checking inventory, and budgeting for repairs and replacements.

[] FOLLOW THE LAW. Make sure your facility is meeting any new requirements. Get a current copy of the bathing code in case the facility did not receive one.