Dozens of seniors gathered outside the downtown campus of Grant MacEwan University to protest the decision to close the pool. (CBC)Seniors stepped up to a microphone set up outside Grant MacEwan University Thursday morning to protest the school's plan to close its pool.

"I have been coming to this pool for 15 years," said Marguerite Schmitz. "I'm a polio survivor and I cannot do land exercises. So the water has always been my friend."

Other city pools don't have the same features or easy access as Grant MacEwan, she said, noting many disabled people use the facility.

The university plans to close the pool permanently in July. Officials said the move would save $500,000 a year — money that would be used to deal with Grant MacEwan's $5.5 million operating budget shortfall.

Savings questioned

The chair of the physical education department at the university, John Valentine, questions those calculations.

"We're not going to be saving a lot of money," he said, arguing the cost of removing the pool, the loss of membership income and the need to find other pools to conduct classes would slash the projected savings by about 75 per cent.

"I think it's a mistake, it's a huge mistake," he said. "It impacts the seniors — we've got a great location here which is easily accessible to a lot of seniors."

Another senior, Nancy Gilmour, took the microphone as she sat in her wheelchair.

"If this closes, I don't know what I'm going to do," said Gilmore, who was in a car accident 14 years ago that left her disabled. "This is my lifeline."

"I have worked my way up. I can now swim a kilometre, and on good days I can swim a mile," she said. "There are no other pools like this in Edmonton, there are no other pools that have a ramp down into the water, [or] the warmth of the water."

The students' union at Grant MacEwan is meeting with administration Friday to hear more on the decision.