Pools to close in searing heat as City runs out of chlorine

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All Johannesburg municipal swimming pools will close by Monday after the City ran out of chlorine, raising fresh questions about procurement and service delivery. The closure…

All Johannesburg municipal swimming pools will close by Monday after the City ran out of chlorine, raising fresh questions about procurement and service delivery. The closure comes just weeks after a delayed start to the swimming season, leaving residents without public pools during the summer heat.

All Johannesburg’s municipal pools will close on Monday, 16 November, because the City has run out of chlorine to keep the water clean.

In a statement on Thursday afternoon, the Department of Community Development said it was “gradually closing” municipal pools across the city due to a critical shortage of chlorine supplies. It said that by Monday, 16 November, all City pools would be closed until further notice.

This latest news is yet another setback in the City’s attempt to open the 57 pools it manages. First the swimming season was delayed by a month from 1 September to 1 October because of “compliance and maintenance issues”.

This delay was due to a late tender process for chemicals, and there being too few lifeguards and cashiers to serve all the pools. MMC for Community Development, Thapelo Amad, said at the time that the City had received a bulk supply of chemicals on 13 October and that 140 lifeguards and 40 cashiers had already been deployed.

Eventually by mid-October 33 pools were opened and staffed. Now barely a month later, there are not enough chemicals to keep the pools clean. And the City is in the middle of a hot summer, with temperatures expected to reach the high 20s next week.

While the City acknowledged that the searing temperatures in the city would cause immense frustration because the pools were closed, it said it could not keep the pools open because “without proper chemical treatment” the water posed a severe health risk to swimmers.

The department’s Acting Director Mbulelo Bezu said they had activated emergency procurement protocols to secure new chlorine stock.

“We know how vital our public pools are to families and young people trying to beat the…

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