In communities where high temperatures and stifling humidity are the norm, residents have been without community pools for years.
A new partnership is helping reopen pools in some of the Northern Territory's hottest communities, where children have had to resort to swimming in crocodile-infested rivers.Local councils have struggled to recruit enough lifeguards to keep kids safeTemperatures in the Roper River community of Ngukurr have recently soared into the high 30s and the humidity topped 80 per cent, prompting the local Yugul Mangi Aboriginal Corporation's youth officer Gene Daniels to take action.
For Gary Hogan and his friends, having the pool closed has been frustrating so the slip and slide was great relief.But Ngukurr resident Kerryanne Thompson said she was worried local kids had been cooling off in the Roper River on the edge of the community of 1,100 people, despite its many large crocodiles.
"It came to maintenance issues and the big thing for us was lifeguards, that's the risk in the running of pools for any council, you've got to have certified lifeguards, making it safe, because you don't want anybody, especially a child, drowning," he said. Since the closures, Roper Gulf is one of several local governments which have partnered with the YMCA to work towards reopening their pools, using its qualified lifeguards.
"The YMCA has a network of aquatic facilities throughout Australia, with 220 pools, and we're recruiting from that network," he said. "Another great thing about operating pools in remote communities — where it is very hot — is that there is an incentive-based around the pool to increase school attendance.Hopes reopened pools will boost health outcomesMr Feutrill said there were other health benefits associated with chlorinated water, including controlling skin infections such as scabies, eye infections, trachoma and ear infections.
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