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The £1.3m Water Play Area at Coronation Park – which has had to undergo around £20,000-worth of maintenance works since opening last year – will now operate six days a week instead of seven from next week.
The Government said that the decision had been made with regret but it would give staff a regular slot to deep-clean the facility and complete required maintenance.
It should should also reduce the number of closures during the rest of the week, it added.
“The Infrastructure and Environment department apologises for any inconvenience or disappointment that the Monday closures may cause,” it said.
The Water Play Area first opened on 18 June 2022 at a total cost of £1.29m, of which £0.75m was funded by the covid-related Fiscal Stimulus Fund.
Since then, it has had to close on several occasions and nearly £20,000 has been spent on remedial works, including replacing the UV power supply and activation sensors, and changing cabling and ducting, a recent request made under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Law revealed.
The facility was closed six days out of the 104-day season.
Two of the days were due to fault with the UV treatment system, two were down to lack of chemical availability attributed to the Ukraine conflict, and two were when the main pumps were replaced.
In 2023, the facility has been closed for eight days since re-opening to the date of the FOI request.
Pictured: The water play area was closed six days in 2022 after opening on 18 June.
Two of the days were down to staff availability, two days were attributable to a lack of water treatment chemicals and four days were used to disinfect and clean the park to aid the treatment process.
The FOI response stated: “A significant amount of work has already been undertaken during the winter shutdown to improve cable layouts, electrical and drainage connections and trace and correct faults experienced during the first few months of running the facility.
“Snagging work has also been undertaken by the supplier to correct certain defects. Additionally, work has recently been undertaken to improve the plant room air flow which should improve equipment reliability.”
Asked to share its long-term plan to improve the facility, the Government said: “There is no formal long-term plan documented at this point; however, works scheduled for the near future include a deep clean to improve the treatment process and installation of increased chemical storage facilities as the local supply chain has been impacted by worldwide shortages of chemicals.”
It added: “Routine Preventative Maintenance schedules are being updated in preparation for the implementation of the new corporate Asset Management system and the stockholding of critical spares is also being enhanced due to the long lead time of some components.”
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