QEII Poo: Christchurch residents in foul mood after hefty number of 'code browns' at new $39m pool

July 27, 2018

Mayor Lianne Dalziel says it's a "fantastic facility".

An inordinate number of the dreaded 'code brown' alerts are restricting Christchurch residents' access to their new $38.6 million QEII pool facility, and they're in a foul mood about it.

In the past 55 days the QEII facility has been closed 20 times due to faecal contamination, Stuff reports .

The figures from Christchurch City Council show the pool has also been closed 34 times all up during that time, which is nearly three times as many as the city's other three indoor pools all put together.

A backlash on social media from Christchurch residents has also turned nasty with one commenter labeling the Taiora QEII Recreation and Sport Centre "QE Poo".

June 27 was a particularly dark day for the QEII facility, with four separate pools in the complex being closed throughout the day for faecal contamination and vomit.

On July 11 two pools were also closed for 'code browns', and there have been two incidents where whole pools have been closed for four straight days.

The original facility was made for the 1974 Commonwealth Games, but was damaged beyond repair in the earthquakes.

Unsurprisingly, on both these particularly severe code brown days the main offenders were the teach and toddlers pools.

But Council recreation, sports and events head Nigel Cox said there was nothing sinister about the high number of closures beyond the fact that the QEII was being visited by an immense number of people.

"We had over 50,000 people in the pools for the first month of operation," he said.

Yet, while QEII's attendance numbers are high, with 52,645 swimmers in June, its number of closures since opening on May 31 exceeds all three other indoor pools in the region combined.

Jellie Park had 36,245, Graham Condon had 26,833 and Pioneer had 35,597 visitors during the month of June.

Mr Cox has also rejected suggestions from residents that handing out complementary nappies to suspicious looking toddlers can solve the problem.

"We find only a small percentage of pool closures are due to small children without nappies. It is more common that the nappies have leaked, or that the closures are caused by older children or adults," he said.

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