Electrical fault causes pool to drain

Gore Aquatic Centre staff got more than they bargained for when they turned up for work on Saturday morning.

They were greeted by water flowing out the plant room door after an electrical failure caused the pump that feeds water back into the main pool to shut down.

Gore Aquatic Centre services manager Kim Peterson said more than 550,000 litres had emptied out of the main pool and onto a grass area before the fault was discovered, forcing its closure.

There was no damage to the pool complex or neighbouring properties.

Peterson praised her staff for quickly responding to the situation and getting information out on the pool’s databases, as well as social media and the radio.

‘‘We decided to extend the Mataura pool’s hours to accommodate the after-school swimming lessons, lane swimmers, aquarobics, Activ8 sessions and Shark squad training.’’

Gore District Council district asset general manager Paul Withers said this was the first time a fault of this nature had occurred at the aquatic centre.

‘‘An electrical contactor had welded closed. This meant the control system thought the pump was still operating therefore no alert went out to warn us about the failure.’’

Withers said staff would carry out a full investigation to prevent a fault of the nature happening again.

Peterson said the main pool will reopen tomorrow.

While it had refilled by late Saturday afternoon, reheating the water was time consuming.

The temperature was at 26 degrees Celsius yesterday and should be at the optimum 28.5C by tomorrow.

‘‘We are lucky the air temperature has been warm as this has helped heat the water quicker than usual.’’

The leisure and hydrotherapy pools at the aquatic centre have remained open.