Submitted by City of Castlegar
The City of Castlegar has reopened the most popular natural swimming pond at Millennium Park.
All ponds were closed earlier this month due to above normal levels of E. coli resulting from increased geese activity in and around the ponds.
According to the city, the measures undertaken to reduce E. coli worked and the water has met the testing guidelines for two consecutive weeks.
During the closure, two of the ponds accumulated algae, a naturally occurring water plant. It may not look pretty but it is not harmful to people and it does not indicate poor water quality.
“We are happy to be able to open the bottom pond but will keep the other two ponds closed for the remainder of the season,” says city operations manager Michael Gagnier.
“The algae is an ongoing challenge and keeping the two ponds closed allows our team to investigate long-term solutions.”
The city regularly tests the water quality at the ponds and submits the results to Interior Health Authority officials for review, following the Canadian Recreational Water Guidelines.
Test results are available at castlegar.ca.
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