Photo courtesy of Alex Peterson An aerial photo of the construction site for the new Marshall Aquatic Center showed several components of the project. Furthest away in the photo are foundations for water slide structures, and the walls of the leisure river. At the center of the photo, construction crews worked on the zero-depth entry pool. In the foreground, groundwork and plumbing was going on for construction of a splash pad.

MARSHALL — There has been plenty of progress on the new Marshall Aquatic Center over the summer, ranging from the construction of swimming pools and buildings, to electrical and tile work.

“There’s lots of things going on that aren’t going to stick out from the road as much,” said Marshall Parks and Recreation Superintendent Preston Stensrud said this week. But Stensrud said the project was making significant progress. “It changes for sure weekly, but things change daily too,” he said.

Stensrud gave Marshall City Council members an update on construction on Tuesday evening. Council members got a bird’s-eye view of construction, with the help of drone photography taken by city media communications specialist Alex Peterson.

Stensrud said teamwork by the different contractors on the Aquatic Center project has played a big part in its progress.

“It’s been a really great partnership with all the contractors, which keeps everybody moving in the right direction,” he said.

Photos taken last week showed the structures of a deep-water and lap pool, the center’s mechanical building and bathhouse, and leisure river. Footings had been placed for the support structures underneath water slides and a water slide platform. Crews were also doing concrete work for a zero-depth entry pool, and ground and utilities work for a splash pad.

Stensrud said contractors were doing final plumbing work for the splash pad site. “Once they have that completed, all of the plumbing for the mechanical systems for the operations of the pool will be complete,” he said.

One step that will need to be done for each new pool is testing to make sure there are no leaks.

“They were thinking about filling the deep-water pool up this week,” Stensrud said. As part of the test, the pool would need to be filled up and hold water for a certain period of time, he said. The pool would then be dried out for the winter.

Stensrud said the pool’s liner would be put on in the spring, and then the pool would be filled. The pool finish needed to cure underwater, he said.

Construction was also progressing on the Aquatic Center’s mechanical and bathhouse buildings. Stensrud said the building roofs were complete and sealed.

“They’ve started caulking the joints on the inside,” he said. Floors were also complete inside the buildings. The pumps and motors for the filtration system were in the building, and electricians were working on the lights in the mechanical room, he said.

“They’re getting down to more of the detail stuff, versus the big-picture stuff,” he said.

Stensrud said the side of the building for the Aquatic Center’s mechanical systems will be heated all winter, so additional construction and plumbing work can go on.

“The guts of the operation relies on that mechanical room,” Stensrud said.

Not all of the construction work was focused on the pools. Stensrud said stormwater lines and ponds were also taking shape in an area along West College Drive.

Stensrud and members of the city council said the different contractors for the Aquatic Center were working together well.

“Numerous local contractors are involved in many different aspects of the project. And as we all know, we had a really wet summer. So to get to this point and say that we’re on track or trending ahead, is really promising,” Stensrud said. “From electrical, to plumbing, to dirt work and all the things, everybody’s helping each other for the benefit of the community and the facility.”