Correspondence we received from Brisbane City Council contradicts the observations we made during Mystery Guest Visits we made to 12 of Brisbane City Council’s public aquatic facilities.
We presented our findings at a meeting with Councillor Howard, including the following:
Water samples taken at Brisbane City Council public pools that do not comply Queensland Health guidelines for public pool water quality.
Pool operators and casual lifeguards not having received adequate education for the technical operation of the water treatment plant nor to maintain safe water balance.
Pool operators and lifeguards doing critical measurements at the wrong time of the day.
Critical measurements to safeguard public health not taken in accordance with the guidelines and its intent.
Periodic tests to ensure appropriate water circulation not being carried our in accordance with the guidelines, carried out too infrequent, or never been carried out at all in the lifetime of the facility.
Several Brisbane City Council 50-meter pools, where pool water was visibly cloudy or milky where visibility was limited to half lane length, plus much debri and leaves scattered across the pool floor.
Including in our presentation, we advised council of the serious yet avoidable public health risks to which pre-school children are exposed at Brisbane City Council’s pools, such as the onset of asthma, skoliosis, cryptosporidium.
The severity of these risks were dismissed, and there was no indication of council being concerned about the duty of care for Brisbane residents.
The letter received from Brisbane City Councillor Vicki Howard misrepresents our findings on-site and upon interviewing both Brisbane City Council staff as well as employees of contracted operators whom verbally did validate and shared our concerns.
