Legionella found at Peterborough swimming pool

A strain of Legionella has been discovered at a city's swimming pool, that has been shut because of a lack of hot water.

The pool, at the Regional Fitness and Indoor Swimming Centre in Peterborough, closed on 2 March.

It has now been confirmed that a strain of Legionella has been found in the water system connected to some of its sinks and changing rooms.

Peterborough Ltd, the council-owned company which runs the pool, said that the strain identified "does not cause illness in humans" and that the legionella was not connected to the pool water itself.

Managing director of Peterborough Ltd, Kitran Eastman, said the lack of hot water available to allow staff and pool users to wash their hands, means it has to stay closed.

Ms Eastman added that Peterborough Ltd, as well as Peterborough City Council's (PCC) environmental health team, are "satisfied that there was no risk to those who had used the pool and its facilities as a result of these test results."

Legionella can cause Legionnaires' disease, a potentially serious lung infection, and Pontiac fever, a mild flu-like illness - although these are only caused by particular strains.

The bacteria was picked up during routine testing for water-borne bacteria including Legionella and E.Coli more than a fortnight ago.

A reopening date for the pool still remains unclear.

Ms Eastman said: "Specialist contractors have been working to identify the cause of the problem and further tests have been carried out.

"When testing for water born bacteria, the sample must be given at least 10 days to grow in the laboratory. Unfortunately, when these tests came back on Wednesday, we received a further positive result."

She continued that staff and contractors have been "working around the clock" to identify issues with the hot water, which have previously been communicated to pool users.

"The safety of the public is always our primary concern and we will reopen the pool as soon as we are able to," she said.

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