Köthener Badewelt and Gräfenhainichen: There is a threat of closure for weeks!

Köthener Badewelt and Gräfenhainichen: There is a threat of closure for weeks!

The Badewelt in Köthen is taking a break! The Köthen bathing world and the public swimming pool in Gräfenhainichen will remain closed for several weeks. The reason for this is extensive cleaning and renovation work that has to be carried out on the pool, technology and equipment. How MDR reported, bathing operations in Köthen will start again in time for the start of the summer holidays. From Saturday the bathing world will be closed for up to four weeks.

Pool manager Mandy Kassur spoke about the details of the maintenance work at a press conference in advance. The last opening of the sports and leisure facility was on Friday, June 21st. The work includes emptying and cleaning the pools, technical inspections and partial replacement, such as the tiling of the wave chamber. A new, fresh coat of paint is particularly important, which should be done after thorough cleaning. The aim is to reopen the Badewelt for the last weekend in July, with approval from the health department being crucial.

Call for renovation and need for investment

The Gräfenhainichen public swimming pool will also be closed from Monday, August 10th. Similar work is planned here, including cleaning the pools, maintaining the technology and installing new heat benches. Here, too, information about the current status of the work is provided online. However, developments in swimming pools show a growing renovation backlog: the investment requirement for Saxony-Anhalt's swimming pools now amounts to a total of 280 million euros, almost twice as high as in the previous year. These sums put pressure on municipalities, which increasingly view swimming pools as voluntary services and have to make cuts when faced with financial bottlenecks.

The situation for swimming training is anything but rosy. Holger Friedrich from the German Life Saving Society e.V. pointed out the need to improve the framework conditions. Since 1990, over 100 swimming pools in Saxony-Anhalt have been closed. Children in rural areas often have to travel long distances of up to an hour to learn to swim. As a result, around 40% of those under ten in Saxony-Anhalt are non-swimmers, a condition that urgently needs to be addressed.

Preparing for reopening

The work in the Köthener Badewelt is extensive and also includes intensive cleaning of the air conditioning and ventilation technology as well as the pipe system. Specialist companies take care of the technical system for water treatment, whereby, for example, an impressive 1,430 cubic meters of water have to be replaced in the various pools. “Water must be thoroughly circulated before samples can be taken for laboratory analysis,” explains Kassur. This process is necessary to ensure that the water quality meets requirements.

The reopening promises to be a highlight in July, and everything is being done to make the Köthener Badewelt accessible to visitors and clubs again as quickly as possible. However, it remains to be seen how the renovation work and the subsequent inspections by the health department will proceed.

The outdoor pools, however, are open and in the meantime offer various offers as an alternative. One can only hope that the urgently needed investments in swimming pools will be made quickly so that safe and healthy swimming opportunities will continue to be available for all children and young people in Saxony-Anhalt in the future.