AHS shuts down city water park one week after it opens

A new City of Calgary water park that opened just last week has been shut down by Alberta Health Services due to issues with its chlorine system.

Chlorine levels were spiking and dropping, said Doug Marter with the city's parks department. He said the system was functioning when the facility opened.

In addition to the chlorine issue, the Prairie Winds wading pool and lazy river in the northeast also received 39 complaints from people who had scraped their feet on the rough surface of the pool.

"It was used for two days, or one day, before we found the problem with the concrete," said Marter, adding there were also some minor cuts from broken grates.

Lazy river challenges

He said lazy rivers pose a challenge for designers.

"You need to have enough traction on the bottom of the pool so that if people want to hold themselves against the current they can, and they're not slipping and falling into that," he said when describing why the concrete wasn't smooth.

Marter said some temporary repairs were done on the facility after the complaints were received, but now that it has been shut down the city will go through and ensure it's smoothed out all of the roughedges.

The work is under warranty, said Marter, and won'tcost the city any additional money.

There is no word on when the park will re-open at this time, until the extent of the problem is determined.

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