Forty eight degree days and no pool.
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That's what residents in Walgett will be facing this 2023 summer. Now one elders group is calling on the council to get to work repairing the decommissioned pool.
Dharriwaa Elders Group (DEG) wants urgent infrastructure repairs to take place so the Walgett Memorial Pool can be reopened for the 2023 summer season.
![Walgett Memorial Swimming Pool often attracts many local visitors during the summer time. Picture by Dharriwaa Elders Group Walgett Memorial Swimming Pool often attracts many local visitors during the summer time. Picture by Dharriwaa Elders Group](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/37qTRiw9gHRe7AczHzCfjaK/9029a756-a060-409c-8a00-9f13eff42c73.jpg/r0_0_900_508_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
In a public letter to the council posted to their Twitter page, the group called upon Walgett Shire Council to repair the pool and commit to building new 50 and 25 metre heated pools and a toddler pool with suitable shade structures, solar power and effective filtering systems so residents and visitors can swim all year round.
On July 5, Walgett Shire Council released a statement saying the pool was to be decommissioned due to various issues, including leaks and a failing sand filtration system, that is estimated to cost in excess of $1.7 million to temporarily fix for the 2023/2024 swimming season.
Member for Barwon, Roy Butler told the Daily Liberal that in a conversation with Walgett Shire Council mayor Jane Keir, she discussed potential alternatives, including arranging bus trips to the swimming pool an hour away in Lightning Ridge.
However, Mr Butler expressed his dissatisfaction with the notion, saying, "we shouldn't have to put kids on a bus just to go for a swim."
The DEG also said "it's not practical to have transporting pool users to Lightning Ridge as any kind of interim option".
DEG director Ricky Townsend said he swam in swimming club from 1966 and knows how important the pool is for exercise every morning, providing a place to get fit and for relaxing in a safe place with friends.
"This pool closure will have a big impact - everyone will want to swim in the river but they can't," he said.
"They can't swim in the river because of the chemicals that are in the river from cotton farms and because of the blue green algae."
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Mr Townsend they were asking for a safe place for people to swim in Walgett.
"People have to realise that it gets well over 48 degrees here and children need a safe place to cool off and play in the summer," he said.
"When it gets hot, it's really hot. The pool is the only way to cool down unless you sit in front of the air conditioner all day.
"With energy prices on the rise and our houses not built for Walgett's climate - the pool will be even more important for our children and the whole Walgett community in the coming El Nino summer. "
DEG's letter continued to state the pool is "very important civic infrastructure for Walgett" as it "provides one of the few past-times for children and young people, facilities for school and swimming club sporting activities, and vital for the health and well being of Walgett's workforce and community."
"There is evidence showing how important chlorinated pools are for public health," the letter stated.
Dharriwaa Elders Group has also offered their connections with industry experts to ensure that the pool is built using best practice evidence-based engineering to accommodate movement of highly reactive Walgett black soils, energy and waste sustainability.
"Our UNSW Engineering collaborator Greg Leslie has high level industry contacts who manufacture large scale filtration systems for industry, municipal pools, aquariums and water parks," the letter said.
"Dharriwaa Elders Group offers our support and networks to ensure this vital infrastructure in Walgett is upgraded with urgency."
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