The opening of the Millicent Swimming Lake has been put on hold indefinitely due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Wattle Range Council Engineering Services Director Peter Halton said staff were working hard to gain an exemption from the Department of Health’s COVID requirements.

Mr Halton said council had been informed it had to meet the new COVID marshal requirement, despite the lake effectively being open 24/7.

“The lake effectively doesn’t close, and we’ve got some advice that we are expected to meet those requirements unless we get an exemption,” he said.

“We don’t have a response from that right now and timeframes are getting away from us already, so we are flagging a delay to the opening, if it gets open at all.

“Our desire is to have the facility open by Christmas time, but it will take some time to get feedback from the Department of Health.

“We are proposing not to have it open for first of November … we are now saying we are trying to achieve an opening by the end of December, or prior to Christmas and have it open … through to Easter.”

Mr Halton said the council was looking at having COVID marshals on duty on hot days, but it was not possible to have them onsite 24-hours a day.

“We are trying to get a good balance and a sensible approach to it,” he said.

“We are working as quickly and as hard as we can, we are conscious it is potentially going to have an impact if we can’t get it open

“Council would love to have it open but we have to meet the requirements. We are doing as much as we can and we will continue to do that and we will continue to communicate with the community.

“If we can make things happen soon we will, but if we can’t we will let the community know.”

Mr Halton said the council was expecting the Penola and Nangwarry swimming pools to be busier this year with the swimming lake possibly out of action, and Mount Gambier’s Aquatic Centre closed due to the construction of the community hub.

“We are opening Penola early for use of swim clubs and school groups,” he said.

“We definitely know we are going to get more people at Penola and Nangwarry, there are going to be some challenges

“We are pretty excited about it … this might increase the general patronage and people might use them ongoing even after the opening of the Mount Gambier facility.

“In the last two years we have improved both those facilities, with some heating at Penola … and with Nangwarry we have improved the access arrangements for people with mobility issues and have been working on improving the chlorination.”

The Penola pool will open on October 13 for swim clubs and school use and to the public the following week, while Nangwarry pool will open on October 31.