Parents want to see wading pools open longer as season winds down

Despite the hot weather, the City of Ottawa’s wading pools are set to close before the end of summer. As CTV’s Camille Wilson reports.

As of Sunday, over a dozen more wading pools will be no more as the City of Ottawa gets ready to close them for the season.

Wading pools started closing Friday and 17 more will be drained by Sunday. All pools will be closed for the season by Aug. 24.

Some parents aren’t too happy with the pools closing in mid-August, leaving them looking for other ways to keep cool for the rest of the summer.

“I think that’s too soon because kids need to be having fun. The holidays aren’t over,” says parent Julie Melancon.

“Kids should be able to play outside, really enjoy, decompress before school starts and be off their screens especially.”

Since most of the staff monitoring the city’s wading pool are students, many speculate the pools are closing early so they can prepare to go back to school.

“That’s so sad because my kids really love it,” says Alina Kucherenko.

“When it’s so hot, you play in the park and then to do a bit of a fresh in the pool”

Some parents would like for the pools to stay open at least until Labour Day.

“It’s quite hot outside and I’d really appreciate being able to take my daughter out to the wading pool. Especially after work or weekends like when it’s hot, like it is today,” says parent Christopher Hogg.

“There’s still a couple weeks before September and it just limits the amount of options.”

The closure dates for wading pools and other places to cool off are available on the City of Ottawa website.

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App