A consultant exploring the feasibility of a new public pool argues that a year-round indoor facility proposed by some county residents would be prohibitively expensive both to build and to staff, given the likely revenue.

If such a project had to depend solely on the county, no doubt this is a dead-on assessment.

But a cooperative effort by the county government, the Columbia Association, the school system and perhaps Howard Community College could produce a facility that would benefit many and could even, in the long run at least, pay for itself. The county's feasibility study ought to include an exploration of such a collaborative effort.

Advocates argue that a 50-meter indoor pool would provide competitive swimmers with a sorely needed venue to train and compete. Another constituency seeks a warm-water therapy pool, a third wants a public leisure pool. In response to their requests, County Executive Kenneth Ulman last year launched a feasibility study.

The county's hired consultant has told officials that an outdoor leisure pool would be the most cost-effective option because it would operate only during the summer's peak demand. According to Recreation and Parks Director Gary Arthur, the consultant argues that an indoor pool would require staff and incur other operating costs year-round, even though it might attract swimmers only in the early morning and late afternoon.

A fair point, but another is that this analysis might be ignoring a segment of swimmers that could fill a pool in the middle of the day five days a week. In 2005 school-system officials shot down the idea of making swimming a varsity sport in the county's high schools, noting a lack of dedicated space for practices and meets. An Olympic-size indoor pool would fill the bill, while providing a place where all county residents could get some great exercise.

Howard Community College, whose student body and sports programs are growing, might want to get in on this too.

Building and maintaining such a facility certainly is an expensive proposition, but constructing it from scratch is but one way to do it.

The Columbia Association maintains a plethora of pools, many of them underused. Perhaps with modification, one of them could be converted into a 50-meter indoor facility.

The CA already maintains the indoor Columbia Swim Center in Wilde Lake. County officials -- already involved in revitalization efforts in Columbia's oldest village -- should consider some sort of cost-sharing arrangement to renovate that aged facility to create a new attraction at the village center.

County officials, no doubt wary of big-ticket items in a slumping economy, have reason to be skeptical of the practicality of a new indoor swimming facility, but it seems they are looking at the possibilities from only the most narrow perspective. A broader view could produce a win-win scenario.

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