Council explains Hamilton's Waterworld closure

The main pool at Waterworld Te Rapa, Hamilton. Photo / Supplied

Hamilton City Council has apologised for a breakdown in communications between themselves and the Hamilton Canoe Polo Club, which was left high and dry after pool closures at Waterworld.

The canoe polo players have been unable to train since several of the the pools at the complex closed on February 12 for a $10.7 million refurbishment.

The dive pool, 50m pool and 25m pool are closed for about eight months. To compensate for the closure of the three pools in the main pool hall, the Lido outdoor pool (normally used for canoe polo) will open for an extended season and will also be heated.

The council's community services manager Debbie Lascelles said it would be challenging to arrange a booking for canoe polo based on the amount of pool space the group requires, and the obvious limitations due to the refurbishment.

"We'll keep discussing how we can make this work for them but it will not be straightforward as the group has some specific needs and we have to balance the demands of groups and our casual and regular customers," she said.

Ms Lascelles said the council spent several months trying to communicate to the public the closure of Waterworld for refurbishment over summer.

"We've done so in a number of ways, including the Hamilton Pools Facebook page, media releases, posters and banners in our facilities and conversations directly with our customers — we wanted to give as much notice as we could," she said

"A representative of canoe polo was advised in October by email that our refurbishment would begin in February and we could not take a booking from the group in March, as the group had requested."

"We do acknowledge this information may not have been relayed by us to local canoe polo enthusiasts again, when it should have been. That wasn't good enough and we apologise for that."

"Unfortunately, we're still not able to take the canoe polo group's booking due to the limited pool space and our need to have the Lido pool available for lane swimming and other programmes. The team has worked very hard to manage available pool space for as many customers as possible.

"We're asking our customers to bear with us while Waterworld is refurbished."

Waterworld is having to under go the refurbishment after crucial parts of infrastructure started to fail.

As reported last week, some questions were raised about why the work was being started in summer.

Ms Lascelles said the refurbishment was recommended to be done in the summer period on professional engineering advice.

"The engineering advice we received throughout the planning phase stated clearly we needed to commence work — including draining the pools — when the ground water is at its lowest."

"This mitigates the risk of the pools cracking from the pressure of the ground water around them, which has happened elsewhere with pool work of this kind., she said.

Secondly, as part of our planning we needed to make the best use of the pool space we had available — particularly the outdoor Lido pool which is more "usable" in summer when the weather is warmer."

"We also have a plan in place to heat the water in the Lido pool to get maximum use from it. This isn't something we usually do because we normally have those 25m and 50m pools available once the weather cools down."

Council will be keeping the public updates about the refurbishment on their Facebook page so they can see the scale of the work involved and why some of the pools are unavailable.

The canoe polo club secretary, Louise Manders, said club president Connor Gibson, was meeting with the council this week and hoped for positive outcomes.

Waterworld refurbishment Contractors will be installing new pumps and filters for the 25m and 50m pool, as well as a significant amount of new piping to transfer water from the plant room to the pools, and a fire systems upgrade.

■New non-slip flooring around the 25m, 50m and diving pools.

■A new raised concourse around the 50m pool, meaning it will be slightly deeper than before.

■A new moveable bulkhead (barrier) in the 50m pool.

■New heating, ventilation and air conditioning above the 25m, 50m and diving pools.

■New competition/race starting blocks for the 50m pool.

■New LED lighting above the 50m pool.

■New ceiling tiles.