Penrith City Council has re-affirmed its commitment to Ripples St Marys, despite issues preventing it from being fully operational.
There has been community concerns over the longevity of Ripples St Marys.
Community member Leslie Richardson has been a long time member of the centre and has expressed her concerns over the operation of the pool.
“Penrith City Council took over the management and operation of this centre from the board members four years ago. Since then, it has been a gradual decline,” she said.
Richardson said the indoor pool has been non-operational a series of times, the spa and sauna has closed numerous times, and the kids splash park is being consistently closed.
“The spa and sauna closes every now and then, one day a week we will come and it will be closed,” she said.
“The splash park for the kids is always closed, never operating. We get a lot of excuses, people with kids who have asked have been told that there needs to be a duty manager to operate it and we can’t find them.”
Richardson also noted that the indoor pool has been shut during peak school holiday times.
A Council spokesperson said a significant failure at the site is behind many of the problems.
“In December, Ripples St Marys experienced a significant and unexpected failure of the pool’s filtration system which resulted in the loss of approx. 200,000 litres of water over a short period of time,” the spokesperson said.
“As a result, water quality could not be maintained in accordance with public health guidelines, and the pool was closed to allow an investigation into the cause of the failure to be undertaken.
“Interim repairs were unsuccessful, and our investigation of the problem found that no guarantees could be given on the longevity of temporary repairs.
“The closure of the indoor pool has created a range of operational challenges and disrupted services for the community. Staff have implemented a range of scheduling and programming changes to minimise the disruption as a result of the ongoing repair work.”
The indoor pool will be closed until early April.
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.