An East Utica pool could be closed for the summer after a pump broke Monday. City officials say all of the city's pools are at risk without major intervention soon. Our Andrew Sorensen dives into the problems which could sink years of Utica's summer fun.

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UTICA, N.Y. -- Kids taking a dip on a hot day is the soundtrack to summer for many Utica kids. But what would you do without it?

With the rapidly aging structure of Utica's city pools, city officials say the bustle of the pools could quickly turn to the deadened sound of water at the closed and broken Buckley pool in East Utica.

The circulatory pump at Buckley, which pumps chlorinated water into the pool, broke Monday.

"It finally died basically is the best way to say it," DPW Commissioner Dave Short said.

The city's two largest pools, Addison-Miller and Buckley, are basically just old. They were both built in 1936.

"They pretty much went through renovation or upgrades every 30 years or so from what my records show. So we're due for another upgrade," Short explained.

He says everything is up to code, but the city needs to take the plunge on a very expensive overhaul to avoid recurring problems.

"When I say updated, that's a complete update. We actually hire an engineer to come through and tell us what needs to be updated. Then we put it out to bid for contractors to do the work," he said.

This actually came up during budget talks in the spring. But with the cost of this one pump estimated at $10,000, the city had good reason for getting cold feet.

"Being money is so tight and the financial straits of the city, you have to pick and choose what's the most things that you have to fix," Short said.

City officials plan to meet Friday to figure out what to do about Buckley, and to discuss how to fix the financial problem to keep the sounds of summer from fading away.