Swimmers at Moody Park Pool can now enjoy a full day of swimming without taking a break.
The City of New Westminster has announced that the installation of an additional filter, and a switch from a solid puck chlorination system to a liquid one, has resolved water clarity issues at the outdoor pool. The pool had been closing for one hour in the late afternoon because of water clarity issues at the facility.
"I am pleased we've been able to develop a solution to the filtration issues at Moody Park Outdoor Pool and that this facility is now open for continuous operating hours," said Dean Gibson, the city's director of parks, culture and recreation. "I'd like to recognize the efforts of the Canada Games Pool management and maintenance staff who have worked diligently over the past several months to resolve this issue and ensure we provide the level of service the community expects and deserves at Moody Park Outdoor Pool."
A press release from the city said pool users may not have been able to notice the water clarity problem, but it did pose an issue for life guarding safety standards and required the pool to close for one hour each day to enable the filtration system to catch up.
Since opening in July 2009, the $5 million pool has been plagued by water quality issues. During its first summer of operation the pool had to be closed on a couple of occasions, and last summer the city opted to close the pool for a one-hour period daily around dinnertime to manage the cloudy water.
Prior to this season's opening, the city added an additional filter in the mechanical room, with the hope it would address the cloudy water issues. The city opted to include a one-hour break in the pool's 2011 schedule, but suggested it could be eliminated if the new filter has resolved the water issue.
Gibson said the weather played a role in delaying a full-day opening of the pool because the city needed the pool to be operating at peak demand in order to gauge whether the changes had resolved the water quality issues. He said the city kept the afternoon closure in place because it knew the pool could guarantee operations until the end of the day that way.
"The chlorine was, in terms of our bag of tricks, the last thing we wanted to try," he said.
Having tested the new filter and new chlorination system during times of high demand, Gibson said staff feel the water clarity issue has been resolved and the pool can operate on a continual basis from 1:15 to 8 p.m.
In others park news, the track at Mercer Stadium has reopened for public use. The $2.085 million project had been delayed because of poor weather.
"While there are still a few incidental tasks to complete, we wanted to reopen the track to the public as soon as we could," Gibson said. "Unpredictable weather throughout he spring and early summer hampered efforts to complete the final surface and line painting work but the sunny weather over the past several weeks has allowed the contractor to substantially complete work at the site."
While some final touches are needed to complete the project, Gibson said the city wanted to reopen the track as safe as it was to do so.
"It is safe and ready to go," he said of the track that reopened last week. "I have run on it myself a couple of times. It is obviously a dramatic improvement from what was there before."
Gibson noted that the previous track surface had torn in places, and had been patched up to allow it to continue to be used. The layers of the track surface had also delaminated in some areas.
In addition to a new track, the project includes construction of storage facilities for sports groups that use the Mercer site.
