Pool ‘code brown’ crisis costing Aus councils thousands

Council pools are a great source of joy for many families during summer, Source: Mackay Regional Council.

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An Aussie mayor has lifted the lid on a costly – and surprisingly common – problem warning a wave of ‘code brown’ incidents is draining tens of thousands from ratepayers.

Mayor Greg Williamson revealed repeated “number two” incidents have forced pool closures, drained council budgets and disrupted families – with similar issues expected anywhere there are public swimming facilities.

“There’s been code browns wherever you have a public swimming facility,” he said.

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson and Kimberley Armstrong from venue manager, Source: Mackay Regional Council.

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The Mackay Regional Council has begun a campaign “to keep the poo out of the pool”, with Mr Williamson saying “it might sound a little bit flippant, but there’s quite a serious note to it as well”.

“Every time there’s a code brown at our fantastic swimming facilities, it costs us somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000, and we’ve had nine of them since the end of September.”

The incidents result in the immediate shutdown of lagoon and public swimming facilities, with clean-up and public health procedures seeing swimming banned for hours at a time, sometimes up to half a day, as crews drain, treat and test the water to make it safe again.

“It’s a very expensive exercise,” he said, “and not to mention the actual non-monetary cost like kids’ birthday parties have had to be cancelled or postponed, lots of pool users just go home empty-handed.”

He said the clean-up bill alone had already climbed to around $30,000 for Mackay alone since September, with the broader cost including a new awareness campaign and free swim nappies expected to hit up to $50,000 by the time swim season is over.

The council has partnered with Bluewater Lagoon venue manager Belgravia Leisure to have swim nappies available for free on site as part of the prevention measures.

Asked what number was the final straw, Mr Williamson said he’d say two but it was around number 8 or 9 that “we got to the point of $30,000 in public expenditure actually trying to solve this code brown, saying we have to do something”.

He said the focus was not on punishment but on prevention.

“We’re not here to be punitive, but we’re here to say there’s a way to save $30,000 of unbudgeted expenditure,” he said.

The solution, he said, was to use swim nappies, take toilet breaks and be prepared before getting in the water – with one code brown accident able to end everyone’s day at the pool.