New provincial water treatment guidelines that suggest wading pools be drained every four hours won’t have much of an effect in Niagara Falls because in recent years the city has changed most of its wading pools into splash pads, says Steve Hamilton, manager of recreation facilities.

“The wading pool at F.H. Leslie this year has been completely turned into a splash pad, Mitchelson Park was switched over into a splash pad and the Lions Park was closed and switched over a few years ago,” said Hamilton.

The new guidelines raised a concern in the Toronto area recently where that city’s wading pools are open five hours a day and would have to close an hour early to comply with the new guidelines.

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews was quick to point out the new policy is just a guideline and that the local medical officer of health, and every public health unit, can make their own judgments about when to change the water.

Niagara Falls still has a wading pool at the Lions Park in Chippawa, but it operates like a regular pool in that the water is treated with chlorine and is recirculated, said Hamilton.

“The objective in the city has been to go toward the splash pad feature because the kids really seem to enjoy it a lot more and they are easier to deal with. Even with the wading pools we had, you always had certain concerns about health issues and you had to keep them chlorinated and everything else.”

At Prince Charles Park, Hamilton said the city has been working with the Region to see how it can be operated by running the fresh water through it while still ensuring it is properly chlorinated.

Niagara Region’s public health department looks after approximately 20 wading pools in the region and they get inspected about four times a year.

Glen Hudgin, manager of environmental health, said the new guidelines apply to wading pools where the water is not treated. In those cases, after four hours the water should be drained and pools filled with fresh water.

“We haven’t had any particular problems with ours,” said Hudgin. “They seem to be operated pretty well, but if we do come across one that does have a serious concern we have the authority to close it down at the time until it’s fixed up.”

One of the biggest concerns for any pool is water clarity. An inspector must be able to see the bottom of the pool. If he can’t, that would be grounds for shutting it down.

“Typically, when water is dirty looking, there is a greater chance that it could have bacteria and disease causing organisms,” said Hudgin.