After the successful test, which lasted eighteen months, the water treatment plant was handed over to the contractor as agreed, who then converted it into a swimming pool. However, in 1953, the swimming pool closed it doors after a swimmer drowned. Since then, the fifty-meter pool has fallen into disrepair.
The municipality of Spiere-Helkijn bought the complex in 2004 and had the roof of the accommodation building replaced to prevent further damage.
Restoration
It was not until April 2014 that the Flemish Minister of Immovable Heritage, Geert Bourgeois, created a restoration grant of half a million euros to breathe new life into the swimming pool.