The indoor municipal swimming pool in Strand will continue operating on its peak festive times, despite the end of the festive season.
The local amenity, which is located in Beach Road, will remain open daily from 10:00 to 17:00. This as the City of Cape Town announced its plan to scale back on operations at community swimming pools last week.
“The change in operating hours will be implemented at 16 community swimming pools that are currently operational, namely Bellville, Bellville South, Bonteheuwel, Brown’s Farm, Delft, Goodwood, Hanover Park, Kensington, Khayelitsha, Lentegeur, Muizenberg, Parow North, Ruyterwacht, Trafalgar, Wesfleur (Atlantis) and Wynberg,” a City statement said.
The affected pools were open daily during the peak festive season period, but will now only operate Thursday and Fridays, after school from 14:00 to 17:00, and Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 17:00. The indoor swimming pools in Strand, Retreat and Blue Downs will continue operating at festive peak hours, while those in Sea Point and Long Street are open daily from 07:00 to 19:00.
However, the municipality cautioned management at the facilities may have to deviate from scheduled times as a result of load-shedding. This as swimming pool plant rooms rely on electricity to circulate water and distribute chemicals to maintain water quality standards.
“Load-shedding has real implications for our swimming pool operations, most notably the ability to maintain water quality. The City cannot risk public health and that is why our facilities management may decide to close during outages, if their assessments indicate that the water quality has been compromised,” said Patricia van der Ross, Mayoral Committee member for Community Services and Health. “I ask that our patrons please cooperate with staff in the event that a facility has to close due to load-shedding.”
Eight swimming pools in the metro are temporarily closed due to structural, mechanical and electrical faults, with work being done at the Athlone, Langa, Manenberg, Mnandi, Westridge, Parow Valley, Ravensmead and Newlands pools.
