Minnesota’s particularly cold 2013-14 winter and abnormally wet spring has literally dampened plans for the 28,000 square foot swimming area that was originally set to open this year. Borden Park is where Edmonton takes risks.An exciting project - the nation’s first natural public pool set to be built in north Minneapolis - has been temporarily put on hold. In 1924, the city opened its first “mixed pool” in Borden Park, where men and women could swim together. I worry we may be building a big fancy slough in the middle of our city.Īnd yet, in a city that has four other conventional outdoor pools, in a city with precious few beaches, there is something beguiling in the vision of an urban “lake” experience we can all share, within walking distance of two LRT stations, a magnet destination to complement the Borden Park sculpture garden. I worry high bacterial counts may shut the pool periodically, as has happened in Minneapolis. I worry the pool’s filtration systems won’t be able to handle big crowds on hot days. I worry about swimmer’s itch and mosquitoes. I worry about ducks and geese and what they leave behind. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Something, too, which probably won’t have the populist appeal of a conventional pool. After all, we’re spending $14.5 million - about twice what the city spent on the newish Queen Elizabeth Pool - to build something this finicky to run. The high-tech ‘natural’ pool, which is supposed to open this August, will be the first of its kind in Canada. Families are going to come to check out the only natural pool in Edmonton.” City project manager Robb Heit stands in front of the Borden Park pool construction site. “It’s just going to appeal to a certain demographic. “We’re looking at it as more of a destination,” says Banford. Still, Banford believes the novelty, and the “green” pedigree, will attract visitors, especially on the hottest summer days. The cool temperature may discourage guests who prefer to laze in warmer water. This won’t be a pool where you can dive or swim lengths or take lessons. You don’t get the crystal clear water you see in a chlorinated pool.” “It was as cool and clear as the swimming in the Shuswap,” says Heit.Įdmonton’s pool, which will be maintained at 24 to 25 C to reduce algae growth, will be similar, he says. He himself went to swim in its natural pool last summer. SunMediaīut Robb Heit, who’s managing the project for the city, says Edmonton has tried hard to learn from the Minneapolis experiment. It’s the first of its kind in North America. Article content Webber pool in Minneapolis uses natural pool technology. (Although even then, it cost roughly half of what we’re spending here.) Last summer, its first full season in operation, it had to close multiple times because of elevated bacteria levels. It opened two years late, and well over budget. While it has won critical acclaim for its innovative design, it’s also had a series of operational problems. The only project of this kind in North America is Webber pool, in Minneapolis. But they’re new on this side of the Atlantic. “Natural pools” like this have been common in Europe, especially Germany, for decades. “Because it’s not a standard pool, we need to go through a lot of learnings.” Now, crews from Ellis Don are hard at work putting up the Rundlestone walls, installing the filtration system and ordering just the right sort of sand - not so light that it blows away, not so coarse that it’s unpleasant underfoot.īanford says the city plans to do a “soft open” this August to iron out the kinks and then open in earnest for a full season next summer. But a massive redesign - necessitated by the need to bring down costs - delayed construction. The pool was supposed to be open last summer. The pool, original scheduled to open in the summer of 2016, is now expected to open this August. Toronto architects gh3 had to go back to the drawing board after estimates for their first design came in more than 100 per cent over budget. An artist’s rendering of the “Natural Swim Experience” planned for Edmonton’s Borden Park. The whole area will be surrounded by 1,100 cubic metres, or 1,643 metric tonnes, of sand, quarried in Thorhild, along with 11 species of native plants to create the impression of being at the beach. The area will feature both a shallow 150-square-metre wading pool for small children and a much larger pool - 42 metres long, 16.8 metres wide and two metres deep - for swimmers to splash and play.
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