Storm water pond hockey dangerous

Kitchener concerned about unsafe ice surfaces — urges skaters to use city’s 38 outdoor rinks

KITCHENER — Although skating outdoors on a pond may seem like the most Canadian way to celebrate winter, the City of Kitchener is reminding people that outdoor skating doesn’t include its storm water ponds.

Every year, once the cold weather hits, the city sees people venture out onto the frozen surfaces of the city’s many storm water ponds, says Nick Gollan, manager of Kitchener’s storm water utility.

But skating on the ponds is dangerous and illegal, and city workers will remove any equipment left on the pond’s frozen surface.

The storm water ponds, many of which are in newer parts of the city, often look like natural ponds, with shrubs, reeds and abundant wildlife.

But they are engineered infrastructure designed to drain storm water away from surrounding neighbourhoods.

Because of this role, water levels in storm water ponds vary much more than in natural ponds, and so ice that may appear solid can be of varying thickness, have air gaps or flowing water beneath the surface — and isn’t safe to skate on.

The ponds also receive road run-off, which can include road salt specifically meant to melt ice, Gollan said.

City crews have dismantled four informal rink set-ups so far this winter, he said.

People can retrieve their equipment at the city’s operations centre, he added.

“We’ve had people set up nets, hockey benches and boards, and even lights,” Gollan said.

“We get a thaw, and everything ends up at the bottom of the pond, and we have to use high-reach excavators to pull everything out.”

Some ponds are also scheduled for winter maintenance, where excavators will dig out sediment so the pond is ready to receive melt water in the spring; so any makeshift rinks could be at risk, he said.

The city’s parks bylaw specifically prohibits skating on storm water management ponds — or even just venturing onto the surface of the pond.

All storm water ponds have signs posted that ban skating.

Instead of skating on the storm water ponds, the city encourages any would-be Wayne Gretzkys and Tessa Virtues to take their blades to the city’s 38 official outdoor rinks.

“It is sort of a quintessential winter activity in Canada, to be skating outside,” Gollan said.

“We do have lots of outdoor rinks that we know are safe.”

A list of outdoor rinks — not including the rink at city hall — is available at kitchener.ca/winterrinks.