Condition assessment of the Cleveland Aquatic Centre

Cleveland Aquatic Centre 50 metre pool and 25 metre pool: Photo: Redland City Council

Swimmers using Redland City Council’s Cleveland Aquatic Centre have been exposed to health and safety risks for more than a decade according to swimming pool condition assessment reports, obtained by Redlands2030 through Right to Information (RTI).

Because of their aged design these pools are unable to circulate water through water treatment equipment at the rate Queensland Health recommends in its guidelines for public aquatic facilities to avoid swimmers becoming ill due to viruses, bacteria, protozoa and other microbiological hazards.

The guidelines say outdoor public swimming pools should circulate water through filtration and disinfectant equipment at a rate equivalent to complete turnover of pool water volume within two hours. For indoor learn to swim pools the guidelines say pool water should be circulated to achieve complete turnover within one hour.

The Cleveland Aquatic Centre includes:

• 50 metres outdoors swimming pool constructed in 1977;
• 20 metres indoor learn to swim pool constructed in 1988
• 25 metres outdoor swimming pool constructed in 1994
• Water play area constructed in 2007.

The inadequate circulation of water at the Cleveland Aquatic Centre has been discussed in technical reports dating back to 2010.

2014 J.H. Cockerell report

In 2014 specialist pool engineers J.H. Cockerell reported to Redland City Council about the condition of swimming facilities in the Cleveland Aquatic Centre. This report included a review of previous technical assessments by Stevenson and Associates in 2010 and GHD in 2012.

“All pools in the facility have significant problems with pool water quality, exposing pool users to potential health risks…” said J.H. Cockerell.

During flow testing of the 50 metres pool’s water treatment plant prior to backwashing, J.H. Cockerall found that the circulation flow rate was only enough to achieve a 12 hour turnover.

The backwash system was found to be defective with J.H. Cockerel concluding that:

“for some time now the 50 metre pool’s filter bed has been blocked, rendering it entirely ineffective in filtering the pool’s water, exposing pool users to potential health risks”.

J.H Cockerell’s 2014 report recommended that the Council prepare a master plan for the Cleveland Aquatic Centre which would provide for replacing all swimming pools progressively, with work completed no later than 2024.

The estimated cost of replacing the 50 metres, 25 metres and 20 metres pools was estimated by J.H. Cockerell to be approximately $10 million (in 2014 dollars).

2015-2020

Instead of following J.H. Cockerell’s expert advice, the Council focused on trying to get something for nothing. From 2015 to 2017 they explored plans to have Surf Life Saving Queensland develop a centre of excellence on the site. When this thought bubble proved unviable, the Council pivoted to planning development of various water recreation facilities in its proposed Birkdale precinct.

In 2019/20 during the COVID pandemic Redland City Council took advantage of a State Government grant of $830,000 to spend about $1.3 million on various projects at the Cleveland Aquatic Centre.

The 50 metres pool got retiling and re-grouting repairs, painting resurfacing of the pool and pool concourse, renewal of the pool lighting and installation of new pool filters.

The 25 metres pool was repainted and lighting was renewed for the 20 metres learn to swim pool.

More details of the 2019/20 work done at the Cleveland Aquatic Centre are available on the Council’s website.

2021 J.H. Cockerell report

In 2021 J.H. Cockerell did a follow up report about the Cleveland Aquatic Centre finding that little had been done to rectify the problems which were apparent seven years earlier.

In its 2021 assessment J.H. Cockerell said that pool users are exposed to water quality health risks due to substandard design and construction of the pools’ water treatment plants. The most significant defects identified were:

• Inadequate circulation of water in the pools and between the pools and the water treatment plants;
• Ineffective filtration of pool water;
• Inadequate sizing of pumps and pipework in the water treatment plant rooms (except for the 50 metres pool).

Some of the money invested by the Council during its recent refurbishment program was found by J.H. Cockerell to have not been well spent.

“The four new horizontal filters installed in the 50 metres pool water treatment plant have not been designed to an acceptable standard. As a result they will become blocked with use” said J.H. Cockerell.

The recent repainting of the 25 metres pool also attracted criticism.

“Paint on the pool floor is powdering as users walk up and down the pool for exercise, discolouring the pool’s water and compromising pool water quality. The pool should be repainted, as soon as possible” said J.H. Cockerell.

J.H. Cockerell’s 2021 report reiterated its recommendation that the Council prepare a master plan for replacing the Centre’s various swimming pools. The updated capital cost estimate was $14 million to replace the 50 metres, 25 metres and 20 metres pools.

2022 & 2023 reports by Aquatic One

More recently, the Council has obtained reports from Aquatic One who performed an audit of the Cleveland Aquatic Centre in 2022 and a condition audit in 2023.

In its 2022 report, Aquatic One’s conclusions included (in their words):

50 metres pool

Whilst dated, the 50m pool appears to be generally fit for purpose. The operators report the ability to maintain water quality in the pool, and whilst the circulation through the pool is suspected to be poor, the heavy use the pool receives may be aiding in providing a natural form or (sic) circulation.

Outdoor 25 metres pool

The outdoor 25m pool is a heavily utilized pool for the centre, and resultantly this pool should be one of the higher quality installations. Unfortunately the current offering is poor in condition and water quality, with notable improvement recommended.

20 metres learn to swim pool

Despite being aged, the indoor LTS pool structure does not present any major areas of concern. Hydraulically, the filtration system is limited for how LTS pools are typically operated in current times and presents several safety and compliance issues. It’s understood that a new LTS pool is proposed for construction in the next 10 years. Resultantly, the existing installation requires safety rectifications to overcome identified issues but generally can be placed into a ‘limp-home’ approach towards maintenance and repairs. Ensuring a solid risk management strategy is adopted is key in providing safe water for patrons in the interim period.

The 2023 Aquatic One Report includes a recommendation that Royal Lifesaving audit signage at the Cleveland Aquatic Centre. Other risk issues identified include the access ramp to the 25 metres outdoor pool. The chlorine dosing system is described as having several nonconformances and the consultant recommends that it be replaced.

Community complaints, Council responses

An online story about the substandard state of the Cleveland Aquatic Centre was published by the Courier Mail on 21 September 2023.

In response, the Council announced on 27 September 2023 that it was spending $416,000 in 2023/24 to upgrade the facility with work to include:

• refurbishment of change rooms
• restoration of the 20-metre and 25-metre pool surfaces and surrounds
• repairs to the outdoor river pool and children’s play pool.

In its announcement, the Council said:

“Council has undertaken annual condition assessments at the centre since 2020 and has continued to invest funds to keep the facility operational until such time as it needs to be replaced”.

The Council says that work to prepare a master plan for replacement of the pools and site redevelopment is not expected to commence until 2028/29.

Redlands2030 decided that it was in the public interest to find out what might have been said in the annual condition assessments received by Redland City Council.

So we did a right to information request which resulted in us receiving several documents totalling 360 pages. This information is now publicly available, being published in:

Right to Information request for Cleveland Aquatic Centre reports.

A community petition was presented to Council in October 2023 which called for immediate action to improve the quality and availability of public swimming facilities in Redland City. To date the Council has not responded to this petition.

What further action is required by the Redlands community to get public swimming facilities which are safe and up to date?

Redlands2030 – 11 December 2023