Prince Rupert's Aquatic Centre has decreased its opening times by 18.5 hours compared to its previous schedule due to lifeguard shortages, and this change will remain in place until December.
"All swim lessons have been postponed due to lack of lifeguard capacity to teach," said Veronika Stewart, the city's communication manager.
She says the pool routinely sees an exodus of younger staff hired over the summer who return to school in the fall. But this time, they also saw unexpected staff losses of three full-time positions that led to even more limited openings.
The pool is currently offering two afternoon swims and two evening public swims in a week, each lasting two hours.
"Each day varies but our public swims have anywhere from 20 to 140 people attending," said Stewart. She added that public swims require greater lifeguard capacity on deck.
A members-only lane swim is offered three times a week from 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
"There are quite a few users who use the pool early in the morning, which is why the members-only lane swims are offered during this time. They also require only one lifeguard in the building, rather than two during all other swim times, and so our capacity allows us to have those three days allotted," Stewart said.
The remaining hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day are allotted for limited use and family swims.
Limited swim is restricted to 39 patrons and only guarantees that the main pool is open, while other pools and saunas may be closed.
Family swim allows both users below the age of 16 accompanied with an adult, and adults without children to attend.
She clarified that these schedules are determined by the level of supervision required rather the targeted users.
The Recreation Department is running a lifeguard training program with job placements that ends in November. In the meantime, they have posted job openings for full-time positions and some part-time ones.
