While the main Tamworth
pools will open their gates to the new season tomorrow, swimmers at Kootingal,
Nundle and Manilla will have to wait a little longer to get into the swim in
their centres.
The major council pools,
City and Scully Park, will open from 5.30am, with Barraba opening later for the
first time this season, but the Manilla opening has been delayed until Friday
because major repair works to contain some pool leaks is still under way.
And problems with how
backwash water was being discharged out of the Nundle and Kootingal pools has
delayed their opening as well, with an expected start now of October 31.
Tamworth Regional Council on
Friday described the delays for Nundle and Kootingal as unfortunate.
TRC operations manager Mike
Rowland has apologised to pool users of both communities for the “unfortunate
delay” to the start of the 2015/16 season but said it was unavoidable.
He said traditional methods
of disposing of the backwash at the two sites have now been found to be out-
dated and no longer accepted practice .
Staff had been working to
put a new process in place which meets current Environment Protection Authority
and NSW Health guidelines.
Mr Rowland said the proposed
solution was to install settling tanks on site at each pool and it would be
treated and dispersed via the existing on-site septic system at Nundle, while
at Kootingal the water from the tank will go to the council wastewater
treatment plant.
“Council is mindful of
getting both pools open as quickly as we can by providing a cost effective
solution which meets all environmental needs,” he said.
The dates of the new
swimming season follows the usual practice of aligning with the start to Term 4
of NSW schools and end of their first term.
Among changes this year is
the addition of up to 3.5 hours to the operating hours at Tamworth Olympic
swimming pool for the shoulder season October and November.
And City will open for
longer over the peak season too.
And council pools this year
will also include an expanded Learn to Swim program.
No comments:
Post a Comment