‘This is something people use. Everybody loves it’
City councillors weren’t given any advance warning, beyond a vague memo dated Sept. 22, 2017.
“The city hall fountain will also undergo construction in 2018 to addressing (sic) legislated safety and accessibility improvements,” it read.
That was it. No mention that the pool, as a functional pool, was to disappear. Indeed, the rather misleading artist’s rendering that councillors received showed kids frolicking in water far deeper than 15 cm.
“Honestly, the first I heard about the design was through Elise’s reporting,” says Ward 4 Coun. Aaron Paquette.
“We’re supposed to be making the downtown more ‘familyfriendly,’ but I don’t see what’s family-friendly about a wading pool that barely covers your toes. I understand the desire to make things safe, but you kind of cross the line when you make something so ‘safe’ it isn’t fun or interesting anymore,” Paquette said.
But as far as city administration is concerned, the pool isn’t a pool. Jason Meliefste, branch manager for infrastructure planning and design, said the city is restoring the site to architect Gene Dub’s original vision.
“It was never a pool,” he says. “It was a fountain. We have never formally recognized its use as a pool.”
Meliefste says officials actually considered removing all standing water. The compromise was to leave 15 cm of water in the basin.
“Anything more could induce a drowning hazard.”
This is ahistorical nonsense, of course.
“It was completely designed for people to go into the pool,” Bob Walker, City Hall’s original project manager, said Wednesday. “It’s interactive. Gene always knew people were going to go into the pool.”
Dub agrees.
“The intent was always to be a pool. We wanted it to act like a pool and feel like a pool,” he said. “I think the pool, especially when it has kids in it, is one of the highlights of that whole complex. When you get 100 kids in that pool laughing and splashing, it’s one of the most joyous sights. But I’m afraid they’re going to lose that. That’s my concern. Will it still feel like a pool?”
So what’s really going on here? Back in 2014, the Progressive Conservative government brought in new regulations for pool safety. The rules required lifeguards, which the City Hall pool doesn’t have. And under the new regulations, the pool’s water was supposed to “turn over” every two hours. But the existing pool filtration system only turned over the water every three hours. Alberta Health Services granted the city repeated waivers. AHS annual inspections never found any problems.
“The water quality has always been maintained,” said Dr. Chris Sikora, medical officer of health for AHS’s Edmonton Zone. “There were never any microbiological concerns.”
Still, the pool wasn’t conforming with the new provincial regulations. The city’s current exemption expires next month. Sikora says lowering the water depth to 15 cm will reduce water volume and speed the filtration system. But, he said, it will still be a pool, and need to conform with all pool regulations.
“That is the challenge of a pool that is wonderfully, freely accessible to the public.”
It’s ridiculous. Water quality has never actually been a problem. The city has no record of anyone having a serious accident at the pool. (Perhaps because it has no records.) And as far as I can tell, after searching the Journal’s archives, no one has ever drowned there, in all its 25 years.
By all means, let’s bring the pool into safety compliance, with a better filtration system, with lifeguards on the pool deck, with enhanced security and better record-keeping. But it’s heartbreaking madness to destroy one of the great good joys of an Edmonton summer without any council debate or public consultation.
But hey, we can always wade at the legislature pool. To be sure, the water there is even deeper than at City Hall — it’s a glorious 48.26 cm, a full foot-and-a-half deep. And the water change rate there is every eight hours, not every two or three.
But turns out, the legislature pool is on Crown land. And AHS has no authority to enforce the province’s own rules on the province’s property.
Meantime, Paquette says he’s going to ask officials to consider other options.
“I think that’s the only responsible thing to do,” he said. “We need to look at the evidence seriously. But this is something people use. Everybody loves it.”