Frustrations are high at Invercargill's Splash Palace complex after faeces were found in two of the pools last night.
It is the sixth Friday in a row the pools have been targeted and one city councillor believes a "mystery pooper" is at work.
Staff were forced to evacuate the leisure pool late yesterday, after a small floater was spotted in the water.
Just a few hours later, another piece of poo was found in the learners' pool.
"We refer to it as a 'code brown'," Invercargill aquatic services manager Pete Thompson.
"Normally there's a scream or a cry for help from the water. So we – as gently as possible – try to get everybody out of the pool."
There have now been 12 incidents over the past six Friday nights.
The worst saw the entire facility closed, after brown bombs were found in all three pools over a three-hour period.
Every time it happens staff have to remove the object from the pool, before spot dosing with chemicals, and letting the water cycle through the filters.
Up to 1000 people use the pools at the complex on Friday afternoons, many travelling long distances for their games and swim classes.
That loss of pool time is causing a stink with water polo players and swim clubs.
"This is a short term anyway, so we only had seven weeks in this term for kids to learn to swim," says Murihiku Swimming Club president Hilary Strang.
The facility does have CCTV cameras monitoring the pools, but the images are not high enough resolution to pinpoint the pooper – or poopers.
"I think that everybody would like to think that it's malicious, given the length of time that it's gone on," Mr Thompson says. "But we shouldn't discount that it may simply be a terrified child."
Children are being encouraged to use the toilet before hitting the pool and staff hope the wave of publicity will discourage culprits from reoffending.
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source: newshub archive
