Holyrood creates pool registry, sets June 15 deadline for filling up

By Craig Westcott

Holyrood residents with swimming pools on their properties have until June 15 to fill them and must get a permit to do it under a new policy that is in the process of being drafted. 

Mayor Gary Goobie said Tuesday a recent review found there are more than 80 swimming pools on residential properties in the town.

“There’s a difference between registered pools – pools that we know exist – and unregistered where nobody approached the Town for a permit,” added councillor Steve Windsor, who chairs Holyrood’s infrastructure and public works committee.

Councillor Curtis Buckle allowed more people started putting in pools during Covid when many public activities were put on hold. “The number of pools in our community went up and that’s when it started,” he said.

Goobie said the reason for the new policy is to help protect water levels in Holyrood, which has dealt with water shortages, leaks and other problems for years. “The point I want to make is that in years past, and it’s a fact, when the tank went down to dangerously low levels, we knew there were swimming pools being filled up at the same time,” he said. “So, if you’ve got five or 10 pools being filled up the same time while we’re experiencing a leak and trying to replenish the water in the tank, it exacerbates the whole situation.”

Goobie said many new homes these days come with swimming pools, either in the ground, or above ground. “It’s the norm,” he said. “So, I’m glad that we’re bringing in this policy that we can monitor and through a registry identify the pools that are in the community, that they are compliant, and regulate how this whole process will take place in filling up their pools. If we’re experiencing a major water leak in the town, obviously we do not want people out in the night with the nozzles going.”

Goobie said he is hopeful the new policy “will improve things drastically.”

Under the new policy, any new pools built in Holyrood will have to be secured with a six-and-a-half-foot tall fence to prevent young children and animals from stumbling into them by accident. Existing pools will be exempt but homeowners may get a letter from the Town warning they could be liable, from an insurance perspective, if an accident or tragedy happens at their pool as a result of it not being fenced properly.

The Town is setting June 15 as the deadline for filling pools because water levels are usually pretty good until then. “After that it puts tremendous strain on our water system,” Windsor said.

On a related note, Windsor reported council is now in possession of a report on the so-called ‘Ballfield Wells,’ a group of artesian wells that were dug over the years to help Holyrood cope with chronic water shortages.

He commended public works director Robert Stacey and staff for being forward-thinking in hiring an engineering company to study the situation with the wells.

“It’s a very comprehensive report,” Windsor noted. “I learned a lot myself reading it. The entire region of Holyrood is pretty unique in terms of its geology and the hydrology, which is always changing. The report really zoned in and focused in on the Ballfield Wells – those are wells five, six and seven, and well number eight on Kennedy’s Lane Extension. And as I said before, we’re all on a well in this town. That’s really important for people to understand.”

The report found that wells five, six and seven are all pumping at the recommended rates. “But it was noted in the study they are greatly reduced (in volume) since commissioning when they were new,” Windsor cautioned. “And number eight, that’s the one on Kennedy’s Lane Extension, the output is so low it’s not even worth continuing and should be decommissioned. So, we’ll be moving forward with that.”

The Town is also looking at setting volume targets for any new wells that it may drill, as well as tying its water system to the North Arm River as a supply source. “That’s something we talked about here at council and there’s money and funding and projects approved for that,” Windsor pointed out. 

He suggested the Town make an effort to educate its residents about the water situation. 

“I think it would be really important for the residents to understand that, especially as we come into those annual dry seasons when we’re all very frustrated and we can’t do certain things that we want do in the garden,” he said.