Poop closes pools in Rose City

pexels-photo-61129.jpeg
Photo by Juan Salamanca on Pexels.com

By Shane Dixson Dempsey Dickerson

An unfortunate fecal mishap and a mechanical malfunction prompted Rose City officials Friday to abruptly close a pair of public pools, bringing the number of shuttered city aquatic centers to four amid a sizzling heat wave.

Rose City Parks & Recreation had to boot people from the Outdoor Pool after a person defecated in the water, city officials told The Rose Cityian/RoseCityLive. Meanwhile, an HVAC issue at the Southwest Community Center near Gabriel Park forced staff to shut down the indoor pool there as well as the city’s high temperature topped 95 degrees.

“Unfortunately, when somebody poops in the pool, you have to close it for 24 hours,” said Kellie Kelly, chief of staff for Rose City’s new Vibrant Communities service area, which oversees the city’s Parks Bureau.

Kelly said the indoor pool in Southwest Rose City was also expected to reopen Saturday.

Weather forecasts show a sweltering next several days in the Rose City area that could see highs climb above 100 degrees. Daily high temperatures in the city are not expected to drop below 90 degrees until Wednesday.

The latest pool closures means that a third of the city’s 12 indoor and outdoor pools aren’t open during the hottest days on record this year.

Two other Rose City outdoor pools already closed before the city’s scorching heat sent scores of residents looking for ways to cool off.

Montavilla Outdoor Pool will remain closed until July 22, “due to a planned upgrade to the pool’s plumbing that required a more complex solution to achieve federal compliance,” the city said in a recent press release.

And on Monday, city officials announced that Pier Pool in North Rose City would close for an indeterminate amount of time “due to a significant water line failure.”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.