Canberra Olympic Pool continues to leak despite repair work

Canberra Olympic Pool is still leaking 33,000 litres of water per day despite repair work worth $154,000, which temporarily closed the pool last year.

With the pool reported to be leaking 46,000 litres a day in March last year the diving and toddler pools in the outdoor section of the centre were closed while contractors tried to locate and fix the leak.

Reopened in November, the work to stop the leaks appears to have not been completely successful, with 33,000 litres still escaping into sewerage each day.

ACT Sports Minister Shane Rattenbury, who in November conceded the works undertaken were only likely to extend the pools’ operational life by a few years, has this week told the ABC “all pools lose water every day (and) we have been able to make a substantial reduction (in water leakage), which will keep Civic pool going for a number of years."

It has also been revealed that at one point the pool was leaking up to 79,000 litres a day, costing the ACT Government in excess of $100,000 in water bills.

The ACT Government is looking to build a new aquatic centre in Stromlo is expected to begin in the next "two to three years", with a new pool in the city also part of long-term plans.

Minister Rattenbury stated “my intention is that we should build a replacement pool in the city area before this pool closes down.

"It's a management approach we are taking to keep Civic in good enough condition to keep it operating.

"It is a 60-year-old pool now, it's never going to be as good as new.

"But we can keep it in good working order until we can build a replacement."

With the Civic pool home to Canberra's only diving boards and also the venue for the city's water polo competition, user groups are concerned at the uncertainty over its future and replacement plans.

Canberra Diving Academy head coach Ann Widdup expects that the new facility in Stromlo will be designed and funded to accommodate the diving community, stating "we will be pushing from day dot to get the best facilities we can so that we have the best diving, swimming and water polo facilities available in the ACT."

With the Canberra Olympic Pool not meeting FINA competition standards for diving, Widdup added “we just want to make sure that when we get this pool built we have (a) top quality state aquatic centre equivalent to that of other capital cities.”

2nd November 2015 - CANBERRA OLYMPIC POOL REOPENING NOT A LONG TERM SOLUTION

10th August 2015 - SEARCH CONTINUES FOR CANBERRA OLYMPIC POOL LEAKS AS YMCA NSW STEPS IN AS INTERIM OPERATOR

17th April 2015 - CANBERRA OLYMPIC POOL TO CLOSE AS SEARCH FOR MASSIVE LEAK STEPS UP

23rd March 2015 - CANBERRA OLYMPIC POOL LEAKING 46,000 LITRES OF WATER DAILY