Mishaps Keep Pierce From Making a Splash : College swimming: Poor turnout, problems with the school’s pool add to headaches of winless Brahmas.

Just when they thought it was safe to go in the water. . . .

For about four months, the Pierce College men’s and women’s swim teams have been unable to use the school’s pool for reasons that range from the comical to the absurd.

All of which has added strain to the Brahmas (0-3), who already are ensured of a winless season because of a lack of team membership. Pierce has only nine women and two men swimmers.

Coach Fred Shaw, who took over the team halfway through last season, said that a series of mishaps has closed the pool, forcing the team to train at neighboring schools and swim all their meets on the road.

“It’s been a real hassle,” he said.

The troubles began in November when the pool was closed so workers could insulate pipes. Later that month, an underground electrical vault malfunctioned, cutting off electricity throughout the campus.

When power was restored the next day with a rented generator, school officials kept the pool closed because it drew too much electricity from the generator.

Then, while the pool was closed, the water level dropped about four feet and nobody seemed to know why. A leak, of course, became a prime suspect.

“So they got tractors and bulldozers to dig up where they thought there were leaks,” Shaw said.

“They didn’t find anything.”

Workers filled the pool again in time for the next disaster.

“A pump blew up,” Shaw said. “That’s the saga of this pool.”

The unavailability of the pool has forced the Brahmas to train at Birmingham High, Cal State Northridge and Woodcrest Schools in Tarzana. The Western State Conference championships scheduled for April 22-24 at Pierce have been moved to Ventura College.

Shaw said the leak-searching work cost the school about $1,500 and that filling the 25-yard-by-25-meter pool with the 336,000 gallons of water it requires costs about $1,400.

And renting the Woodcrest pool also costs Pierce, although Shaw said the exact amount hasn’t been determined yet.

If nothing else happens, Shaw said, the Brahmas might get back in the pool by early April. As for the alleged leak, Shaw said, there are theories but no concrete evidence.

“They think that a (pool maintenance) worker left a valve open and was afraid to say anything,” Shaw said. “No one has admitted to it.”