The rehabilitation of Bicentennial Pool looks more like a reconstruction project.

Workers have already dismantled and removed the shell of the pool at the Alto Street facility and are now excavating old materials and equipment as part of a seven-month effort that should be completed during the summer.

The Santa Fe City Council in October approved a nearly $2 million contract with Davenport Construction Management to reconstruct the city’s only outdoor public pool, which was built in the 1970s and had begun to show its age in recent years.

The project has been broken into three phases — one month of deconstruction, six months of reconstruction and two months of rehabilitation and upgrades to the pool’s building and amenities.

City officials said the reconstruction likely will wrap in June or July. The pool typically opens every year during Memorial Day weekend.

Public Works Department Director Regina Wheeler said Tuesday she was “grateful” for the council’s approval of the funds when it became clear Bicentennial Pool needed major repairs.

The pool has never undergone a major restoration, Wheeler said.

The agreement doesn’t include costs for the third phase of the project, which includes the addition of new doors, stucco and paint for the facility’s building, plus modernization of mechanical and chemical systems. Also needed are cosmetic and structural improvements to the center’s “tot pool.”

The city plans to add a new water slide, backstroke flags and privacy screens.

That phase of the project is expected to cost $252,400, and will be funded as the money becomes available, Wheeler said.

According to a presentation to the council, Public Works Department employees found extensive leaks in the pool’s plumbing and jet systems, plus other outdated equipment in February. It was determined the facility was leaking 130,000 gallons of water per month, which staff attempted to repair for the 2021 summer season.

Some fixes were completed in time for last summer’s swim season, but not enough to address leaks in the plumbing system. That led to a decision by the council in June to close the pool for the summer and fund repairs.

The council also considered the construction of a new outdoor aquatic center on the city’s south side for between $7.7 million and

$15 million. Councilors looked primarily in District 3, the only one without a public pool. But that option was scrapped in favor of repairing the aging Bicentennial facility, mainly due to high cost estimates.

A new facility would have taken an estimated 3½ years to complete.