The only giant water slide in town will be replaced with a $550,000 outdoor water play park, using leftover funds from the under-budget Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre 50 metre pool. 

City of Ballarat announced works would begin on the water play space as soon as next week via social media last Friday afternoon.

Councillor Des Hudson said the slide should be removed this week. 

“The slide, if not already down, should be down within the next week,” he said. 

Rust was considered one of the reasons why the water slide was unsafe.

“We inspected (the slide) and found it to be unsafe and at this stage works would need to be done,” Cr Hudson said.

“We are exploring whether or not to find another slide, which could go back to the site.” 

Council will use $750,000 from its 2015/16 budget to upgrade the Eureka Street facility, which includes the construction of the $550,000 water play space. 

Nothing was mentioned about council’s plan to decommission the water slide in the initial Ballarat Aquatic Strategy last August where council aimed to: ‘‘undertake a review, including usage patterns, of the waterslide at Eureka and determine future development.’’

owever plans to replace the ‘‘ageing water slide’’ were then mentioned in the revised Ballarat Aquatic Strategy, which went before council on June 10.

An additional $200,000 in works will also be delivered as part of the Eureka Pool project. 

Improvement works will be made to the existing kiosk and change rooms. The 335 metre-squared water play space is larger than the existing Midlands Water Play Facility in Doveton Street, Ballarat North.

The new playspace will be designed by Waterplay Solutions Corp who have built similar aquatic projects in Queensland and Las Vegas.

It will include a mega-soaker bucket, splash blaster, spray tunnel and an area for gentle play for younger children and should be open for the 2015/16 outdoor pool season.