MONTREAL -- Pools in most of Montreal have reopened amid the scorching weather this summer.
But one of the biggest remains shut, and Verdun residents would like to know why.
The reason? COVID-19, of course, but in a very specific way.
The mammoth Natatorium or the “Verdun Riviera,” as one local woman joked about calling it, is simply too big.
It requires more lifeguards than the usual pool. That means they need an office space, and it’s been hard to find a place to house the lifeguards and their materials that’s big enough to allow them to socially distance with each other.
Last year, the lifeguards were housed in trailers but this year that’s not an option.
“Had we not been in the pandemic, the trailers would have been there, the pool would have reopened, everything would be operating as usual,” said Verdun City Councillor Sterling Downey.
Learn more in the video above.
