Rocanville pool project in the home stretch

May 29, 2025, 3:17 pm
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Those involved in the $4 million upgrade to the Rocanville Aquatic Centre are confident the doors will still open this year, but a set date is yet to be determined.

“That is the hope,” said Mayor Ron Reed when asked if the pool is still on track to open within the calendar year as earlier projected. “We’re fairly certain we’ll be open in 2025, we just don’t have a firm date as of yet.”

Mayor Reed noted the lights were turned on for the first time at the pool recently, and the majority of HVAC ducting is in place over top of the tank.
“Things are progressing nicely, getting down to the nitty gritty as far as deciding things like tiling in the washrooms,” he said. “We’re picking out some of the final finishes, so to speak. That’s a very nice stage to be at.”

Rocanville’s Recreation Director Andrea Logan is also exited to see the new facility open soon.

“Our pool is going to be able to be open year-round, so we won’t be waiting until next summer to open it up,” she said. “As soon as the pool is ready, we will open it!”

The project was able to obtain $1.2 million through a federal-provincial infrastructure grant, a contribution of $300,000 from the RM of Rocanville, and around $77,000 in local fundraising. As for sticking to the budget, Mayor Reed is confident the new pool is within projections.

“The last budget we had was fairly detailed, and we had obviously some contingencies built in there, just with some of the unknowns,” he explained. “As things are finishing up, or we’re getting closer to completion, we’re getting a better picture of some of our overages and underages in specific areas, but as of right now, it’s all falling within budget—if not maybe a little bit under our final budget.”

There’s also paving work to be completed around the pool, which will tie in with other street work this summer.

“Our paving company is coming in mid-July to do all the rec facilities parking lots,” said Reed. “So they’re going to be doing in front of the rec centre, the hall as well as the pool and the school parking lot. The general contractor said that they’re going to be done their portion by that time and be pulled out as far as the building completion goes, but we still have a fair amount of work after that to get the tank itself ready.”

The tank still needs a liner installed, plus there’s staffing to be considered as well.

“Obviously, it would be nice to have certified lifeguards just ready to go, to be hired, but that might be the commissioning or trial stages,” Mayor Reed said. “Once it is ready to be operated as a pool, we’d obviously fill it up and start training some of our own staff.”