The residents of Springs will soon have a totally revamped Olympia Park Swimming pool to cool off in.
This comes after it became clear that general maintenance of the pool is no longer sustainable.
The Addie and DA ward councillor Dean Stone visited the swimming pool on Thursday to find out what the current state of the pool is.
Spokesman for the metro, Themba Gadebe says the pool will be closed to the public as the metro seeks to overhaul the pool in the next financial year, which begins in July.
In a press release Gadebe states “The reality is that the pool has been in existence for over 83 years and it has indeed been receiving necessary general maintenance that has kept it running this far.
However, it is clear now that the equipment in the facility has outlived its life span, which in turn causes the frequent breakdowns and constant closure of the facility as we have experienced recently.
Due to the diatomaceous filters which broke down on January 30, signalling a need to close the pool for major renovations.
This is a filter media that rids your pool of cloudy water and leaves your water sparkling clean.
Already, swimmers in Springs have suffered when the pool opened late in September last year due to theft of vital steel equipment in the plant room.
It closed again in November and reopened in December because of flooding of the pump room.
In this regard, the metro believes these disappointments must be avoided through a permanent solution.
Although these breakdowns have been successfully resolved by competent people, the frequency of the breakdowns is indicative that we need to do things differently and totally overhaul the swimming pool.
Gadebe explains the metro needs the consultants to holistically asses the entire facility not only the diatomaceous filters.
“Upon an assessment, a realistic costing will be determined, which will direct the budget required to revamp the facility.
This is a concern for Stone as it will take about 12 months before the metro fixes the pool and it is the only pool in Springs and surrounding areas.
With the facility’s diatomaceous filters that failed last week, the process has just begun and the appointment hasn’t been made yet but it will be made on time before the new financial year comes.
He says it is important to note that it wasn’t in the metro’s plans to revamp the pool in this financial year, but it is a decision that was taken last week in view of recent persistence interruptions.
Gadebe says the costs will be included in the budget of the next financial year and is in the interest of residents.
The residents will have to wait a little longer for a more permanent solution than to have to deal with constant interruptions of the service.
“It is further difficult at this stage to determine timelines, however, in anticipation of work that is to be done, we will not rule out the 12 months of closure of the pool,” he adds.
The metro apologise to the residents for the closure of the pool and assures them that overhauling the facility is the best permanent solution.
