More than half of Montreal's public pools and wading pools listed as 'temporarily closed'

People cool down in a public pool in Montreal, Thursday, July 5, 2018. (Graham Hughes, The Canadian Press)

There’s some bad news for any Montrealers looking for a place to cool off during this week’s heat wave: more than half of the city’s public and wading pools are listed as temporarily or permanently closed.

There are 63 pools throughout the 19 boroughs, according to the City of Montreal's website, with 27 listed as open.

Of the 19 boroughs, 12 have pools listed as open.

At the top of the list is Saint-Laurent, with five open pools, followed by Rivière-des-Prairies-Point-aux-Trembles (RDP-PAT) and Verdun with four each.

Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (CDN-NDG), Saint-Leonard, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extention and Ahuntsic-Cartierville each have two pools open while Lachine, Ville-Marie, Anjou and LaSalle have a single open pool.

The Plateau-Mont-Royal borough has said that it would open the outdoor swimming and wading pools at Laurier Park this week, which will bring the total up to 13 boroughs and 28 pools.

The pools in the Sud-Ouest (2), Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève (2), Montreal North (4), Outremont (1), Pierrefonds-Roxboro (2) and Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie (2) are all currently listed at temporarily closed.

City spokesperson Philippe Sabourin said on Monday that there are nearly 40 indoor swimming pools open in addition to mist stations.

He said the city evaluates which outdoor pools will be open on a case-by-case basis. 

"We were alerted to this heat wave a few days ago, [and] we've been working very hard to open a third of our outdoor swimming pools," he said. 

Sabourin added that pool openings coincide with school terms ending. 

"Usually, the city opens the swimming pools once the schools break," he said. "Because of this heat wave, we opened a few swimming pools earlier."

In addition, 46 of the 81 wading pools listed on the city’s website are listed as temporarily closed, with one (Parc Saint-Victor) listed as permanently closed.

Of the 196 splash pads listed on the site, 21 are listed as closed. 

Sabourin said that there are many other options for cooling down such as taking refuge in public libraries and other places with air conditioning.

"There are many solutions to cool down yourself during this heat wave, and every borough is taking particular action in order to increase their services," said Sabourin. 

He said to check the individual borough's site to find information on where to cool down.