Timaru District pool closures upset community members

Lifeguard shortages have forced a change to the operating hours of the Timaru District’s community swimming pools, impacting learn to swim programmes and squad training, and upsetting community members.

This summer New Zealand’s drowning numbers have been the worst since 1982-83.

The Timaru District Council announced the new operating hours on Thursday, which include the closure of the Pleasant Point pool, from February 9, reduced hours at the Temuka pool from February 13, and reduced hours at CBay and Geraldine.

The council says despite its best efforts to recruit more lifeguards, “we will not have enough to offer the same level of service for the remainder of the summer season’’.

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The announcement comes just weeks after several staff sent a heated letter to the council’s chief executive citing petty bullying, micro-management and dangerous behaviour at CBay.

Temuka Swimming Club president Sarah Young said the announcement was “a big shock’’ but the club had been warned by the council at the end of last year that they could not guarantee the pool would remain open after January.

“The news was not what we were hoping for,’’ Young said.

The club’s learn to swim programme had more than 70 children this season, run in two blocks – about six weeks before Christmas and then six weeks from the end of January, on a Tuesday and Thursday evening.

The club’s swim squad also uses the pool from 9am to 10am, Monday to Saturday, during the summer holidays.

However, the new opening hours mean the pool will be closed on Tuesday to Thursday, and open from 10am on the days it is open.

She said the only option now was to run the lessons on Mondays and Fridays.

“The problem with that is many families already have commitments on these days. We also need to consider our volunteer coaches.’’

She said the club’s preferred option would be to have enough lifeguards for the pool to be open as normal.

“The second-best option would be changing to a Monday and Friday.’’

In 2020, the council completed a more than $1 million upgrade to the more than 50-year-old pool.

Young said it was disappointing the facility was not being utilised “and yet again people drowning is in the headlines’’.

Young said the reduction in opening hours impacted the entire community.

“The local schools, the aqua classes… it’s a community hub.’’

She urged anyone considering becoming a lifeguard to apply.

Meanwhile, in Pleasant Point, mother-of-three Emma Stowell said the pool’s early closure followed issues at the end of last year when there were problems with its pump.

This had impacted on her youngest child’s swimming lessons, and he had not had a lesson in more than a year, she said.

“It’s an important community asset.

“We’re a bit gutted.’’

She said she was willing to help at the pool if that would mean it could remain open longer.

Timaru District Council communications and engagement manager Stephen Doran said throughout the country swimming pools were facing challenges in recruiting lifeguards.

“While this was a difficult decision it was made for genuine safety reasons,” he said.

“We worked hard last year to put together a great team of university student lifeguards to ensure all our pools can operate over the peak summer months, and while they are here we are able to keep our summer pools operating at peak open hours for an additional two weeks.’’

Doran said prior to Covid-19, the pools’ seasonal numbers would have been supplemented by working holidaymakers but, as seen with other seasonal sectors, “these staff are very thin on the ground this year’’.

He said the reduced hours and closures did “not directly’’ have anything to do with staffing issues at CBay.

“However, this decision was made with staff wellbeing in mind to ensure our remaining lifeguards aren’t working unsustainable hours to make up the shortfall in staff numbers.’’

He said the council had faced similar problems at its pools in the past three years and this had been further exacerbated this year by record low unemployment levels.

The council had been advertising throughout the year for both permanent and seasonal lifeguarding staff in the media, social media, word-of-mouth, through swimming clubs and many other avenues, and while there had been enough people to cover the peak season that was mainly made up of students and high schoolers who have to return to their studies.

At peak levels the council had 52 lifeguards – fulltime, part-time and seasonal.

“Post February 12 this number drops to four fulltimers (three based at CBay and one at Geraldine) plus some school students who are available after school and at weekends.

“As a minimum we need three lifeguards at CBay and two lifeguards each at the district pools to operate to PoolSafe requirements.

He said the lifeguard positions were paid, not volunteer, but if enough people put their hand up, to meet the minimum standards to run the pool safely, volunteers helping out could be an option.

The council offered training to suitable candidates, and the minimum requirement for a pool lifeguard is the person needs to be able to swim 200 metres in under six minutes (eight lengths of the 25m pool), tread water for five minutes at the deepest part of the pool (3.5m), and pick up an object from the deepest part of the pool (3.5m).

All candidates need to pass this test before proceeding with training, he said.

Training then consisted of a two-day lifeguard course run by in-house trainers and assessors.

Lifeguards also needed to have a comprehensive first aid certificate, and needed to be police vetted.