If we as a community can’t keep our bowels in check, then we don’t deserve to have a community aquatic centre. The town’s public indoor pool was forced to close again on Nov. 1 due to fecal contamination.
If we as a community can’t keep our bowels in check, then we don’t deserve to have a community aquatic centre.
The town’s public indoor pool was forced to close again on Nov. 1 due to fecal contamination.
This closure was the latest in a series of incidents where stool was found in the pool this year—there were five closures in May alone— and staff at the aquatic centre have not been able to determine during any of the incidents if the persons responsible were young, old, infirmed or healthy.
An accident in the pool every once in awhile is understandable but this frequency of closures from fecal contamination is ridiculous.
Aquatic centre staff have to be commended for their efforts to clear and clean the pool after each incident.
But even if the pool is being sanitized to a point where it’s safe to swim in again, the knowledge that people are continually fouling the water makes the centre seem less and less appealing every time there’s a fecal contamination incident.
It’s likely the majority of these incidents are not committed on purpose, but the record of closures in 2013 reveal that people are swimming when they shouldn’t be and that’s affecting a shared amenity.
The town has asked people not to use the facility if they are feeling unwell but these types of contamination events keep happening.
Alberta Health Services was not able to provide information on whether other community pools across the province are experiencing similar problems.
But regardless of whether or not Olds is alone in dealing with this frequency of pool closures from fecal contamination, it’s time for the town to look at cutting off public access to the aquatic centre.
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