City provides information on June 8th Aquatic Centre closure

In light of some questions that have arisen in a local media report, the City wishes to provide details regarding the shutdown of the Aquatic Centre on Wednesday, June 8th.

• At around 10:15 am, an Aquatic Centre employee raised concerns about the air quality inside the pool area by identifying a possible haze. Staff immediately began taking steps to determine the cause of the air quality concerns. This included calling in a private contractor to investigate. The initial inspection did not uncover any apparent underlying problem. Seeing no visible change in air quality, a more detailed inspection was conducted at the pool at 3:30 pm. At this point, a refrigerant leak was detected and steps were immediately taken to close the pool. Aquatic Centre staff and members of the public were advised to stay out of the pool deck area.
• Steps were undertaken immediately to notify the public of the pool closure. This included posting a notice on the City of Cornwall and Aquatic Centre Facebook page, updating the Aquatic Centre page on the City website, making direct calls to scheduled pool clients and erecting signage at the facility.
• The contractor located and isolated the leak and made the necessary repairs. The pool was reopened for regular programming as of 6 am on Thursday.
• All available information at the time did not cause the City to believe the public was at risk. It was not until the following morning that staff who may have been affected due to longer exposure sought appropriate precautionary medical attention. In consideration of that information and with no other complaints being brought forward, it was assessed that there was no risk to the public.
• Staff met with employees of the Aquatic Centre on Monday afternoon to share information on exactly what happened, how the problem was fixed and planned steps for the future.
• To prevent a reoccurrence, the City is exploring various methods of early detection of refrigerant leaks.
•  Despite this occurrence, the Aquatic Centre is a safe facility and residents should not have any concerns about making use of it. It is inspected on a routine basis in addition to annual planned shutdowns for maintenance.