The Ladies’ Pool has been closed after a dye test found “foul drainage” escaping from the café toilets and reaching the bathing pool.
The States has not confirmed what the drainage contained, including whether it involved faecal matter.
Tobin Cook, Director of Environmental Health and Pollution Regulation, acknowledged the news would come as “a disappointment to regular users of the Ladies’ Pool”.
Tests found that the other bathing pools were not affected, so they’ll stay open and people can keep using them.
Issue spotted over a week ago
The closure comes after a bathing water sample taken on 24 August returned a provisional “poor” result.
Express has asked the States why the decision to close the pool took at least nine days.
A second sample taken two days later met the “good” criteria, but concerns remained about the first result.
Environmental Health then carried out a dye test at the café toilets using red dye to trace where the drainage was going.
The test showed that foul drainage was escaping into a public area before reaching the Ladies’ Pool.
Mr Cook said investigations were “ongoing” and would help “establish the extent of the issue and what remedial works need to be carried out”.
‘Excellent’ results before closure
Weekly samples taken at the Ladies’ Pool since May had all returned “excellent” results, according to Environmental Health.
Mr Cook said: “We hope that islanders can appreciate that it is in everyone’s best interests to close the pool while we investigate this further.”
An update will be provided once the investigation has progressed.
