City staff aren’t concerned about the health or safety of the two remaining paddling pools, though the long-term plans are to replace them with spray parks.
Earlier this month the Herald reported on the Kinsmen Park spray park. That story erroneously reported that the new spray park replaced the last paddling pool in the city.
In fact, two paddling pools still exist — one in Hazeldell and one in Crescent Heights.
Following the Herald’s story, a Hazeldell resident reached out to point out there was still a paddling pool in the neighbourhood. The resident also saw paddling pools as health and safety hazards.
Responding to a question from the Herald, Dionne indicated that there were some concerns surrounding paddling pools.
The remaining two facilities, however, are inspected regularly and only used when there is someone supervising, the city confirmed.
“There’s nothing to me really concerning about paddling pools,” said Curtis Olsen, the city’s recreation coordinator.
“The only problem with them is they require regular treatment and you have to have staff on site to supervise them.”
Paddling pool water is treated and chlorinated — just like the city’s swimming pools. Playground program staff tests the water to make sure it is safe and supervise children using the facilities.
The advantage of spray parks is they use city water and don’t require the same level of onsite supervision, Olsen said.
The long-term plan is to replace each of the paddling pools with spray parks.
“That’s where we’d like to get, depending on the budget,” Olsen said.
“Every year through park improvements we look at all of our parks. We look at our funding, and whether we can add a spray park.”
Some of the spray parks, such as the one in Kinsmen Park, have been funded by grants or sponsorships.
“If those things come up, we would look at it,” Olsen said.
“We’d like to get (to replacing them), but it depends on funding.”
