Aquatic Centre Concerns

MY attention has recently been drawn to the fact that the planned Windhoek City Council family recreational swimming pool at Olympia, costing over N$7 million, has had some of the specifications changed.

It was most disturbing to read that the main pool will now have a depth of 4.0 metres at the deep end and that two diving boards are to be installed as there is no prevision for a diving pool. The original plan was for a family recreational pool with a depth of 1.35 at the shallow end and 1.8 metres at the deep end.As well as being a resident of Windhoek a regular swimmer and having an 8 year old child crazy about swimming, I also feel I have a social and professional responsibility to request that as the new swimming complex is still in its early stage of development, the Windhoek City Council reconsider these latest decisions regarding the planned swimming complex.Before settling in Namibia I was qualified as a teacher and lecturer in physical education and sport and my final position before coming to Namibia was a consultant with the Ministry of Sport and Recreation in Australia where I worked with the Facility Planning Unit, one of our responsibilities was to approve and help with the planning of Municipal and Community recreational and sporting complexes, such as swimming pool centres.My main concerns in regard to the design of the new swimming complex are: * No modern design of an aquatic centre would ever position diving boards in a pool designed for recreational family use especially as the majority of pool users will be either poor or non-swimmers:(a) There is a high risk of a diver striking an unsuspecting and unaware swimmer beneath the board.(b) Many rescues have been affected after a swimmer was struck by a diver; there is a real risk of a serious injury and possible drowning.(c) Supervising becomes a “nightmare” for pool attendants as many divers “bomb” (feet first entry).Diving boards also attract the larrikin elements who want to show off to their friends.(d) Water slides are not incorporated into the main pool for the same reason.(e) “Older” designed aquatic centres with diving boards in the main pool have either removed the diving board or rope off the deep end during busy times at the centre.* A water depth of 4 metres (deep end) is hard to understand with the information available about pool safety and accident prevention:(a) When training for the Royal Life Saving Society Bronze Medallion qualification one of the requirements is to recover a weighted object (normally a house brick) from 1.8 metres of water.This often proves to be a difficult activity for some participants as they have problems reaching the bottom of the pool with a depth of 1.8 metres.Yet these participants are competent enough to swim the 400 metres required by the Bronze Medallion.(b) A pool depth of 4 metres is more than double the depth required to dive for the very demanding Bronze Medallion.Very few competent swimmers could successfully dive to a depth of 4 metres let alone to rescue a child or adult on the bottom.(c) All aquatic centres with diving pools normally have SCUBA diving equipment so staff can reach the bottom to carry out cleaning activities or in the need to rescue someone.(d) Why is the pool to be a depth of 4 metres at the deep end when the proposed diving boards will only be 1 metre? A normal depth pool is sufficient for a 1 metre board.(FINA regulations: “depth of water in diving pool not less than 1,8 metres”) At a northern suburban Council Pool in Melbourne Australia, I personally witnessed pool staff attempting to rescue a young boy from the bottom of a 5 metre depth diving pool; fortunately with the assistance of a national diving competitor the child was rescued.NOTE: Most pool staff, even though they had advanced swimming qualifications, could not reach the bottom of the 5 metre pool.The new aquatic complex instead of being a family recreational centre as planned will become a “single purpose” centre with the needs of groups such as the Windhoek Underwater Club and the Swimming Union given priority over the majority of the target users: families, non-swimmers and recreational swimmers.One death by drowning is a terrible tragedy for family and friends and for all Namibians especially if better pool planning could have possible avoided this heartbreak.We have some very capable and intelligent Councillors serving on the Windhoek City Council I’m appealing to them to be responsible and contact an organisation such as the Royal Life Saving Society in South Africa or the United Kingdom before you permit the depth of the new swimming pool to become 4 metres deep.Deaths from drowning are unfortunately very common in Namibia a preventable drowning is also part of the ‘duty of care” that the City of Windhoek has towards all its residents, it would be tragic if a possible future Mayor or President drowned in a City of Windhoek swimming pool because no one was able to rescue them from the bottom of a very deep swimming pool.The diving pool at the Jan Jonker swimming complex was closed in recent years due to the high risk to the swimming public, so some City of Windhoek employees do understand the risks.Finally I would like to draw the attention of the City of Windhoek to a recent newspaper article (The Age, Melbourne, August 2004), where a 12 year old girl in Australia was recently awarded Aust$5.5 million (N$27.5 million).The girl became a quadriplegic after diving into 90 cm of water from starting blocks that were placed at the wrong end of the Municipal swimming pool.Graeme Bruce Via e-mailThe original plan was for a family recreational pool with a depth of 1.35 at the shallow end and 1.8 metres at the deep end.As well as being a resident of Windhoek a regular swimmer and having an 8 year old child crazy about swimming, I also feel I have a social and professional responsibility to request that as the new swimming complex is still in its early stage of development, the Windhoek City Council reconsider these latest decisions regarding the planned swimming complex.Before settling in Namibia I was qualified as a teacher and lecturer in physical education and sport and my final position before coming to Namibia was a consultant with the Ministry of Sport and Recreation in Australia where I worked with the Facility Planning Unit, one of our responsibilities was to approve and help with the planning of Municipal and Community recreational and sporting complexes, such as swimming pool centres.My main concerns in regard to the design of the new swimming complex are: * No modern design of an aquatic centre would ever position diving boards in a pool designed for recreational family use especially as the majority of pool users will be either poor or non-swimmers:(a) There is a high risk of a diver striking an unsuspecting and unaware swimmer beneath the board.(b) Many rescues have been affected after a swimmer was struck by a diver; there is a real risk of a serious injury and possible drowning.(c) Supervising becomes a “nightmare” for pool attendants as many divers “bomb” (feet first entry).Diving boards also attract the larrikin elements who want to show off to their friends.(d) Water slides are not incorporated into the main pool for the same reason.(e) “Older” designed aquatic centres with diving boards in the main pool have either removed the diving board or rope off the deep end during busy times at the centre.* A water depth of 4 metres (deep end) is hard to understand with the information available about pool safety and accident prevention:(a) When training for the Royal Life Saving Society Bronze Medallion qualification one of the requirements is to recover a weighted object (normally a house brick) from 1.8 metres of water.This often proves to be a difficult activity for some participants as they have problems reaching the bottom of the pool with a depth of 1.8 metres.Yet these participants are competent enough to swim the 400 metres required by the Bronze Medallion.(b) A pool depth of 4 metres is more than double the depth required to dive for the very demanding Bronze Medallion.Very few competent swimmers could successfully dive to a depth of 4 metres let alone to rescue a child or adult on the bottom.(c) All aquatic centres with diving pools normally have SCUBA diving equipment so staff can reach the bottom to carry out cleaning activities or in the need to rescue someone.(d) Why is the pool to be a depth of 4 metres at the deep end when the proposed diving boards will only be 1 metre? A normal depth pool is sufficient for a 1 metre board.(FINA regulations: “depth of water in diving pool not less than 1,8 metres”) At a northern suburban Council Pool in Melbourne Australia, I personally witnessed pool staff attempting to rescue a young boy from the bottom of a 5 metre depth diving pool; fortunately with the assistance of a national diving competitor the child was rescued.NOTE: Most pool staff, even though they had advanced swimming qualifications, could not reach the bottom of the 5 metre pool.The new aquatic complex instead of being a family recreational centre as planned will become a “single purpose” centre with the needs of groups such as the Windhoek Underwater Club and the Swimming Union given priority over the majority of the target users: families, non-swimmers and recreational swimmers.One death by drowning is a terrible tragedy for family and friends and for all Namibians especially if better pool planning could have possible avoided this heartbreak.We have some very capable and intelligent Councillors serving on the Windhoek City Council I’m appealing to them to be responsible and contact an organisation such as the Royal Life Saving Society in South Africa or the United Kingdom before you permit the depth of the new swimming pool to become 4 metres deep.Deaths from drowning are unfortunately very common in Namibia a preventable drowning is also part of the ‘duty of care” that the City of Windhoek has towards all its residents, it would be tragic if a possible future Mayor or President drowned in a City of Windhoek swimming pool because no one was able to rescue them from the bottom of a very deep swimming pool.The diving pool at the Jan Jonker swimming complex was closed in recent years due to the high risk to the swimming public, so some City of Windhoek employees do understand the risks.Finally I would like to draw the attention of the City of Windhoek to a recent newspaper article (The Age, Melbourne, August 2004), where a 12 year old girl in Australia was recently awarded Aust$5.5 million (N$27.5 million).The girl became a quadriplegic after diving into 90 cm of water from starting blocks that were placed at the wrong end of the Municipal swimming pool.Graeme Bruce Via e-mail