The Ladies’ Pool and the toilets at the Bathing Pool will be closed until at least next week, after Environmental Health (EH) confirmed water from a cesspit was leaking into the pool.
EH visited the site on Thursday morning with drainage experts and said it believes the cause of the pollution has now been identified, although a formal report is still awaited.
Tobin Cook, Director of Environmental Health and Pollution Regulation, said the defect allowed wastewater to escape from the cesspit into the surface water system before discharging from a drainage outlet in the wall and towards the Ladies’ Pool.
Mr Cook had previously defended the decision to keep the pool open for over a week, following the initial discovery of “foul” pollution in the water.
Pool could reopen on Wednesday
Measures have already been taken to prevent the problem happening again, but the public and cafe toilets have been kept out of use until the formal report is received.
This will mean the cafe will operate at reduced capacity.
A water sample has also been taken from the Ladies’ Pool following the immediate fix, but the pool is due to be emptied and cleaned on Tuesday and will remain closed as a precaution while the short-term measures are reviewed.
If the water sample comes back acceptable, the pool has been cleaned and the mitigation measures are in place, it could reopen on Wednesday.
