The natural swimming ponds at Castlegar’s Millennium Park remain closed following tests showing the presence of chlorine.
The ponds were closed on May 25, following routine maintenance, when staff noticed a change at the ponds, which turned out to be caused by chlorine, a chemical used for disinfectants and bleaches.
Municipal services director Chris Hallam said independent testing detected the chlorine, which is unusual, because the city doesn’t chlorinate the ponds.
“The city is concerned because we have not been able to confirm the source of the chlorine and our staff are working to neutralize the chlorine so the ponds can reopen as soon as the water samples meet all standards,” he said in a news release.
The city says it’s concerned with the prolonged closure since the ponds are heavily used at this time of year and hopes to have the ponds open within a couple of weeks, but this depends on water sampling consistently meeting standards.
The city follows the Canadian Recreational Water Guidelines and regularly tests the natural ponds’ water quality and submits the results to Interior Health for review.
The ponds were only open for about a week this year. They have been periodically closed in years past due to positive E. coli samples and algae blooms, but Hallam says chlorine is not something they have run into before.