For the past three weeks – peak holiday time in Zululand summer – the Empangeni town pool has greatly resembled Rudyard Kipling’s ‘great, grey-green, greasy’ Limpopo River.
The ZO can report that today (Monday) the pool is a lighter shade of blue after officially opening on Saturday.
This followed weeks of complaints by residents who had either paid to have private access to the facility, or who were concerned about the fact that public swimming galas may have to be cancelled owing to the quality of the water.
ALSO READ: Green pool has residents irate
Timeline
4 January – Visitors to the pool are told the facility will be closed until further notice. The water is dark green.
11 January – A city spokesman attributes the state of the swimming pool to the fact they had ‘run out of chemicals’ and promises the pool will be opened on Saturday, 13 January.
13 January – The pool remains green, and closed to the public. Though city officials are not prepared to comment on whether or not the lack of pool chemical stocks was due to unpaid accounts, they promised to rectify the problem ‘in due course’.
17 January – A spokesman for NCP Chlorochem, the company contracted to supply chemicals to the municipality’s various swimming pools, confirmed that a chemical order had been placed by the city and was due to be delivered later that afternoon.
18 January – The pool remained green, with residents becoming more vocal about their concerns about the lack of maintenance at the facility.
19 January – A source conveys that chemicals have been added to the pool and they expect to reopen on Saturday 20, or Sunday, 21 January.
21 January – Visitors to the pool report that it is open, and the water is clear.
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