You can expect some pools to be closed at Genesis Place throughout the summer.

Manager Greg Lockert explained that the pools will be closed on a rotational basis starting in early July so that they can make some upgrades to drain systems required by the Pool Standard Act to meet new anti-entrapment safety regulations.

"What they've come up with now is they've changed the flow rates of the amount of water that can flow over drains and a potential for someone to get trapped over top of it. The closures that we are seeing at Genesis Place are around our older pools, being the lane pool and the dive tank."

The lane pool and hot tub will be closed first from July 3 to 30, followed by the dive tank from July 31 to August 28. Finally, the leisure pool will be closed from August 29 to September 11.

In order to make the upgrades, the work on the dive tank and lane pool will be quite extensive.

"We will be cutting the bottom of the basins out, putting in new plumbing, going from two drains in a system with a large amount of water flow leaving the pool to a three or four drain system where there is smaller amounts leaving through a certain area."

Lockert explained that the work required with the newer leisure pool is not as involved, as they only need to make upgrades in the mechanical room. However, the pool will still need to be drained to do that, and will take about seven days to refill, heat and treat the pool because of its size.

Lockert said the upgrades were not able to be done in 2015 when the aquatic centre was closed for retiling, because the new regulations had only come out a few months prior, and time was needed for consultations to determine what upgrades were required. None of the work that was done in 2015 will be affected by the latest project. Lockert said they did consider shutting down the aquatic centre completely, but ultimatley decided on the rotational closures instead.

"This allows us the least amount of impact to our public. We will still be be doing lessons as scheduled. We will also be doing family swimming and public swimming as scheduled, just not all the amenities will be open. For example, when the dive tank is closed, the diving boards and climbing wall will not be available."

There will be some barricades set up around the work areas, but Lockert said that any work that will result in dust and mess like concrete cutting will be done after the pool closes and cleaned up before they open, so disruptions should be minimal.

Somewhat counterintuitively, Lockert said that they actually see their lowest usage numbers during the summer, making it the best time for this type of work. Most swim clubs are not using the pools during the summer, freeing up space. As well, if the temperature soars over 30 degrees, the pool will see a lot of traffic, but if the temperature rests between 20 to 25 degrees, people will take advantage of other outdoor options. That means the pool is not as busy as it is in the winter months.

 

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