Lifeguard shortage and storm force ongoing closures of Ballarat pools

The City of Ballarat has once again been forced to close a number of its aquatic facilities during one of the busiest periods of the year.

A shortage of lifeguarding staff as a result of COVID testing saw the Black Hill, Brown Hill and Buninyong pools closed last week to allow remaining staff to be redirected to the council's busiest pools, the Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre (BALC) and the Eureka Pool.

With a power outage from a storm last week impacting BALC's 50 metre pool and its filters, the pool was closed as monitors were borugh back online. This was completed as of last Friday afternoon

Advising that the decision to redeploy staff had not been taken lightly while apologising for inconvenience caused, City of Ballarat acting Chief Executive, Matthew Wilson "we have to be able to keep our aquatic supervision levels in line with regulations and we can’t do that without consolidating our staff numbers at the Aquatic Centre and Eureka pools.

“We will always prioritise water safety for our patrons at our aquatic facilities and unfortunately we can’t meet these requirements across all of our pools at this point in time."

It remains unclear when the impacted pools may be able to open again.

A shortage of swim teachers is also being felt by pools across Victoria.

Image: Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre.