Ballarat pools to open again after recovery from COVID impacts

While no aquatic facilities have been exposure sites, the Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre (BALC) and outdoor pools across Ballarat have experienced a major shortage of staff, including customer experience and lifeguard staff, in recent weeks due to COVID-19 impacts.

It prompted a decision to be made to close the Black Hill, Brown Hill and Buninyong outdoor pools so staff could be redirected to work at the busier BALC and Eureka pools.

But BALC manager, Gerald Dixon, said more staff were set to return this week, leading to Buninyong Pool reopening on Friday and allowing for Black Hill Pool to reopen this week.

Mr Dixon said it was "exciting" to be able to reopen the pools. With hopes the worst of the staff shortages are over, plans are in place to reopen Brown Hill Pool in the coming weeks.

He said staffing had been a major issue for the entire aquatic sector this summer, with all centres being impacted by shortages due to staff being unable to work due to isolation requirements or as they had tested positive to the virus.

"Some facilities have been closing their doors and others have been closing their outdoor pools. At one point our lifeguard workforce had reduced by 35 per cent."

He said he was "proud" of how his team had tackled the challenges of the past few weeks, with staff across all departments working collaboratively to find solutions.

"We had staff coming together to help out. People rose above and beyond in challenging circumstances and it's been really great to see."

He added that community support had been heartening as staff tried their best to keep some facilities open.

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