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Swimming Canada says 'technical issue' with aquatic centre pool needs to be resolved

Downtown city swimming pool closing for maintenance

Windsor's world-class, 71-metre swimming pool has been making waves in the swimming community, hosting a number of national and international competitions since 2013.

But now, the pool is making waves of a different kind — it's facing criticism for how it has been built.

In April, coaches at the Eastern Canadian swimming championships complained of a current in certain parts of the pool, which depending on the direction, could unfairly help or hinder a swimmer. While a test conducted before the meet determined no issues on the surface of the pool, Swimming Canada determined during the event that there many be an issue with currents further down.

A complete timeline of events is outlined this letter from Swimming Canada.

The issue was temporarily fixed on the second day of the event by reducing pool pump capacity to 20 per cent, a move that had to be approved by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit due to possible health concerns. Competitors affected by the current before the fix were allowed to re-swim.

"Windsor's been a great community for hosting aquatic events. That's kind of the irony ... in this," said Nathan White, senior manager of communications for Swimming Canada. "They've been such a leader in building new facilities."

White said while the governing body has placed a moratorium on national-level events at the facility until the issue is fixed, the next such event in Windsor is not scheduled until 2020.

"We think there's lots of time to get it resolved for our 2020 [event], and [the City] thinks they're going to resolve it here in the next couple of months," he said.

Mayor Drew Dilkens said the City is working with the manufacturer of the pool to determine whether there's issue that needs to be fixed.

"We don't expect we'll have to cancel any meets," he said.

He did not know how much the additional testing and, if necessary, repairs, would cost.