Belgravia Leisure, the new manager of five of Canberra's public pools, has refused to blame a shortage of lifeguards for patrons of the Dickson Aquatic Centre being subject to a "one in, one out" procedure to get into the centre during last weekend's above-30-degree temperatures.
That's despite the previous long-term managers of Dickson pool saying that, other than during COVID times, that situation had never happened during their 26-year tenure.
"We would always staff up for hot days - all hands on deck," former spokeswoman for the Dickson pool Taryn Langdon said.
In the meantime, the Phillip swimming pool, now owned by Geocon, has finally re-opened to swimmers after being shut for the past two summers.
A lunch-time swimmer, who asked not to be named, was thrilled that it had finally re-opened to the public from last Wednesday.
"It's great to have a pool in the south that is a 50-metre pool and it's outside," he said.
"I swim most days but this is the first time I've been here in two years because it was closed the last two summers. Lovely to have it back."
Belgravia Health and Leisure Group Pty Ltd - aka Belgravia Leisure - in September was appointed as the new operator for five of the ACT government-owned pools: Canberra Olympic Pool, Gungahlin Leisure Centre, Stromlo Leisure Centre, Lakeside Leisure Centre and Dickson Aquatic Centre, following a public tender process.
Twice over the weekend, Belgravia had to enact a "one in, one out" process at Dickson, saying "we have reached capacity in the venue" as temperatures soared on the weekend.
When asked for a clear answer on whether it had enough lifeguards or not, Belgravia confirmed it was still recruiting lifeguards but refused to say not having enough lifeguards on the weekend was the problem.
"I can confirm that Belgravia Leisure was indeed meeting all requirements of the Guidelines to Safe Pool Operations (GSPO) to ensure the safety of patrons at Dickson Pool over the weekend. To maintain adherence to these guidelines, the lifeguards used the one in, one out policy. This is a standard practice that happens at most busy pools which are working under the GSPO over summer," a spokeswoman said.
"We pride ourselves on maintaining industry best practice for safety, and the safety of our patrons is always our primary objective. Our team continues to work hard on deck every day to ensure a safe and enjoyable day out for all.
"We can confirm that all is still on track to open the doors to our guests as per our advertised timetable, and our intention is that all pools will open at full capacity. We are still recruiting, but our expectation is that we will have enough trained lifeguards to cover the operating needs of summer."
"We are still in the process of recruiting lifeguards and swim teachers for all the Canberra Pools and encourage anyone who is interested to apply here: View Jobs at Belgravia Health & Leisure Group Pty Ltd | Expr3ss! Predictive Hiring Technology"
When asked if that meant they had to hire more lifeguards to prevent he one-in, one-our procedure, the spokeswoman said: "Safety is our highest priority and even with a full complement of lifeguards, if the number of patrons within the venue gets to a level that compromises our ability to safely supervise and manage the pool, then we will enact the 'one in, one out' procedure".
The situation was in stark contrast to that at Phillip, with manager John Raut saying the pool was not busy over the weekend.
He said attendance had been "crap".
Mr Raut said a valve for the heating of the main 50-metre pool had needed to be fixed, which meant the facility could not re-open on November 6 as hoped. It instead opened on November 8.
