Fecal contamination incidents continue to plague Henderson Pool
LETHBRIDGE – It’s still happening. Two weeks after Henderson Pool Managers said they were trying to stop the large number of fecal contamination incidents from occurring, officials say staff are still dealing with them far too frequently.
And the concern is not only that summer staff lose their hours because they’re being sent home, not only that it costs thousands of dollars each time a 24-hour closure needs to occur, not only that people lose the swim time they have paid for – but that serious gastrointestinal parasites like Cryptosporidium may infect the public and could see the popular outdoor pool shut down for weeks.
Brad Pack is the General Manager with Recreational Excellence for the City of Lethbridge. He says they’ve now run out of plastic pants for babies and small children, and they’re hoping that a continued educational awareness program will mitigate the number of contaminations that occur.
“All of our staff right now are currently educating the public. We have pamphlets at the front. When we do grounds checks at this particular pool, we go around and they talk to parents of kids and just say take regular bathroom breaks. Often kids get excited to be here and when kids get excited, they don’t want to take a break sometimes, and so it’s good to make them take a break and take them to the washroom on regular times.”