The recent crisis experienced at the Zoo Lake swimming pool and 19 other public swimming pools belonging to the City of Johannesburg (COJ) has been resolved according to the City’s communications and marketing department.
Adding to the efforts of getting the facility up and running amid the crisis was the Zoo Lake Water Polo Club (ZLWC).
Chairman for the club, Garth Lucas said it was once again up to the club to come to the rescue, since the City was not on par in this regard. “ZLWC again jumped in and helped solve the problem and [since then] the pool is in sparkling condition,” said Lucas.
“ZLWC has been involved in helping maintain the Zoo Lake pool for many years and were instrumental in having the pool repaired last season when a bad leak threatened its closure.
“When COJ do not send chemicals [timeously] we helped out and purchased them ourselves, as we were forced to do recently.”
Lucas credited the restoration of the Zoo Lake facility, thanks to the joint effort between ZLWC and COJ, although he said COJ continues to face a serious service delivery issue. “However, it has improved over the last few years.”
Communications specialist at COJ, Ayanda Radebe reiterated that all 20 swimming pool facilities had reopened for business and assured residents and visitors that the City would try its best to avoid similar constraints from creeping up in the future. Radebe said, “All the swimming pools are up and running. The chemical situation has been sorted and residents can look forward to utilising the pools as before.
“However, residents are urged to adhere to the swimming pool rules and to always wear sunscreen when swimming.”
Radebe said COJ is a proactive municipality, which after several weeks of dysfunctional swimming pool facilities, had learnt a hard lesson. ” I think we’ve learnt from our mistakes in terms of supply chain, and so what we’re doing going forward is being proactive in managing our supplies of chemicals and making sure that the situation doesn’t happen again.
“But what I think is important is the fact that we might not always get things right the first time around but, in situations where we are wrong, we’re always looking forward to fixing them.”
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