Coastlands Aquatic Centre and Ōtaki Pool will reopen from 5.30 am on Friday 15 May with reduced services and extra measures in place to help keep everyone safe.
“We know many in our community have missed their regular swims over the last six weeks and our staff are working hard to get both facilities ready to safely welcome our visitors back,” says Steve Millar, Kāpiti Coast District Council’s Aquatic Facilities Manager.
“To play it safe, things will operate a little differently under alert level 2. We will be limiting the number of patrons at any one time to 100 at the Coastlands Aquatic Centre and 70 at Ōtaki Pool. This includes swimmers and non-swimmers.
“We will also be maintaining a register of everyone that visits our aquatic facilities for contact tracing purposes. This data will be captured through your Aquatics card or, if you don’t have a card, you’ll be asked to sign in at a sanitising station. Our staff will be on hand to guide you through this process.
“Opening hours remain the same but our spa, sauna, hydro slide and meeting rooms are closed for now. Group exercise and classes, shared pool equipment, club bookings and lane hire are also unavailable until further planning is undertaking to ensure these services can be offered safely.”
Where possible, swimmers are asked to shower and change at home. Changing rooms are open but limited to 10 people at any one time.
“We’ll be increasing our cleaning rotations for shared touch points using a hospital-grade disinfectant. If you’re a non-swimmer, we have marked our benches with indicators at 2-metre intervals. Please use these rather than sitting with people you don’t know,” says Mr Millar.
“People visiting our pools are expected to exercise good hygiene practices and adhere to physical distancing rules. If you are feeling unwell please don’t visit us – stay at home.
“We understand that the pool will likely be a popular go-to for families this weekend so to manage demand and make sure that everyone can have a dip, we ask that older and lane swimmers visit us in the mornings and families with children wait until the afternoons. This is just for this weekend while we get an understanding of demand.
“These new measures will mean delays for some users so we ask for your patience and kindness as we transition to a new, safer normal.”
Plunge café will be reopening with the expected hygiene and distancing practices in place to comply with best practice for alert level 2. Please use contactless payment methods where possible. The Waikanae Pool is closed for the winter months.
ENDS
