Calgary water park reopens after being plagued by closures
CBC News | Posted: August 23, 2018 11:41 PM | Last Updated: August 24, 2018
Wading pool and lazy river at Prairie Winds Park have been closed for a year
First it was rough gravel that cut children's feet, then issues with chlorine levels, then a problem leak — but now a northeast Calgary water park has finally reopened, with just a few weeks of summer left.
The lazy river and wading pool at Prairie Winds Park first shut down in August 2017, one week after opening to the public.
Alberta Health Services said chlorine levels were spiking and dropping. In addition, the pool had received 39 complaints from people who had scraped their feet on the concrete's rough surface.
Then, when the pool was started up for this season, they discovered a leak in the piping that proved difficult to pin down.
"There's hundreds of metres of pipes underneath the pool and we first had to determine what the cause was, determining there were leaks in the pool, and then individually finding them," said Michelle Wong with the City of Calgary.
"So it was a bit of an iterative process where the leak had to be located, fixed, and then the pool had to be fixed with and without water."
The pool reopened to the public Wednesday. As the work was still under warranty, the repairs didn't cost the city any additional money.
"We're just very happy that we managed to get the pool open, albeit for a short period, the remainder of the last couple weeks of summer. But you know, hopefully people can still enjoy, we've got some warm temperatures still," Wong said.
Parents were happy to make the most of the pool's reopening.
"I hope they keep it open until September, so I can have fun," said Athba Elrafih.
"We thought we'd come today just before the forecast for tomorrow [rain], but we would have come all summer if it had been open," said Chantel Pompa.
Wong said the pool's winterization process will be revamped to ensure there are no more leaks in the future.
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With files from Dan McGarvey.