The Okotoks spray park has been a great place for locals to cool off this summer without draining the town's water supply.

Daniel Robinson, the town's aquatics team lead, says the spray park is operated a lot like the swimming pools.

"We have a tank in the ground that captures all of the water, and then inside the mechanical room is where we have our pump, our filtration. We have a chemical balancing system that works to keep the chlorine and the pH of the water balance the exact same way we do the swimming pool."

He explains that some water is lost to splashing and the absorption of the water on swimsutis, but with their "Closed Loop" water recycling system, they're acutally able to re-use most of the water for the spray park.

"We use sand filtration. We have vessels full of sand that are used to filter out the debris from the water, and then that water goes through a chemical sensor, and that reads the health of the water and the pH of the water."

After getting rid of any debris, the system makes sure the water gets properly sanitized and is ready for the next round.

"We use two products. One is calcium hypochlorite, and that's what we use to put chlorine into the water, which is the disinfectant and oxidizer that cleans and promotes the health of the water, and keeps it safe for everyone to use. Then we use sodium bisulfate in a blended form that's used to correct the pH from this calcium hypochlorite to keep it so that it doesn't irritate eyes and skin of the bathers."

He says the spray park park is open May long weekend to September long weekend, from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. any day with weather over 20 C.

 

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