‘Not OK’: Closing only pool in Ontario town points to growing climate challenge

CLINTON, Ont. _ Randy Marriage was a regular at his hometown’s only pool when he was growing up, cooling off with friends on summer days. His grandchildren won’t have the same chance.

Despite hotter summers and more intense heat waves, partly induced by man-made climate change, local authorities have decided to close the only pool in the small southern Ontario community of Clinton, citing its high refurbishing and maintenance costs.

“It is a terrible decision to close this pool,” said Marriage, 58, a lifelong Clinton resident, standing by a splash pad next to a now waterless pool.

“Our council is trying to tell us, you know, it is OK,” he added. “It is not OK.”

Clinton is facing the same climate challenges as larger communities, but is suffering more because it isn’t “deep-pocketed,” Marriage said.

Experts broadly agree that smaller communities, which often have few options to raise money, will struggle to adapt to a warmer world.

“Certainly it makes sense that smaller and rural communities with fewer resources, fewer sort of services overall will have a tougher time supporting their most vulnerable residents in the event of extreme heat,” said Ryan Ness, director of adaptation at the Canadian Climate Institute.

Property tax is often the only avenue for small communities to raise new funds. Getting money for new projects, like a major pool renovation or building cooling centres, typically requires a grant from the provincial or federal government.

Rural communities often lack the capacity to navigate the bureaucratic hurdles involved with getting grant money, Ness said.

Salomé Sané, a climate campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, said the federal government should create a climate adaptation fund specifically for small communities to help them upgrade buildings to make them cooler, improve transportation and improve access to real-time information about incoming heat waves.

“What we actually need is a strong investment … into preparation and adaptation to extreme heat that is very much tailored to the needs of rural communities,” she said.

Clinton, a community of roughly 3,000 people located about 200 kilometres west of Toronto, is part of the municipality of Central Huron.

Jim Ginn, the mayor of Central Huron, said the community does not have enough resources to meet the coming climate challenge.

So far, the splash pad and the community’s cooling centre have proven enough to cope with bouts of extreme heat, Ginn said, but he conceded the municipality isn’t prepared for a future with hotter, more intense summers.

“Until it becomes a higher priority for the senior levels of government that they fund us more, there is not much more we can do,” he said.

Clinton’s only pool was initially closed in 2020 as a temporary measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reopened in 2021 but closed again 2022 because it needed repairs. Ginn said the decision to close it permanently was made last month by the local council, which determined it could not afford the more than $5 million needed to renovate and re-open the pool.

The mayor said council asked residents to weigh in before making the decision but didn’t get feedback.

“Everything blew up” after the decision was made, he added.

The council vote is reversible if the community secures funding either through public fundraising or government grants to cover part of the expenses, the mayor said.

Stacey Petteplace, who moved to Clinton nearly a decade ago, said the pool’s permanent closure means residents need to drive to neighbouring towns to swim, which is a problem for those who don’t have a vehicle.

“Our kids needed us to give them this safe place, so they have a place to cool down in the summer,” she said. “We failed to do that.”

Angelee Bird, another Clinton resident, said losing the pool means losing one way community residents might have found some relief during hot summers.

When her apartment building lost power during a heat wave in June, Bird said she was lucky to have family members nearby who she could stay with overnight. Others might not have many options, she said.

“Our entire building was outside, sitting on grass because it was the only way to cool down,” the 28-year-old mother of two said.

In Seaforth, Ont., a little north of Clinton, spirits are higher after the town’s first and only splash pad was opened last month.

Dean Wood, who spearheaded the project, said local businesses and residents raised $330,000 to build it.

Wood said he used to drive his children to splash pads in neighbouring towns when they were growing up, trips his relatives and others in Seaforth now don’t have to make.

“It is a wonderful sight to see because every time you pull into the park on a hot summer day, the splash pad is being used,” he said.

Nicole Ward, who visited the splash pad recently with her child and friends, said Seaforth’s residents feel lucky to have a place where they can stop by to cool off.

“We love it, it is very family oriented,” she said.

“We have a nice big pool, a splash pad and our town is more fortunate than other places that don’t have as much funds coming in for them to build facilities to keep cool.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2024.

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press