With another hot and humid week in store for Windsor-Essex, the city is doing what it can to accommodate residents during this extreme heat.
Speaking on AM800’s The Morning Drive, Mayor Drew Dilkens says staff is responding with all of the resources at their disposal.
“[we are] Speeding up access to cooling centres, get all of the splash pads open and Sandpoint Beach,” he says.
Testing for e-coli levels are typically performed weekly by the health unit at nine area beaches, including Sandpoint Beach in Windsor, to determine how safe it is to go into the water.
But because of COVID-19, the health unit recently announced the program would be put on hold for the 2020 season.
Mayor Drew Dilkens says the city will get its own testing done.
"City council stepped up, we're hiring a third party to do that for us so we can open Sandpoint Beach," he says. "And we're getting the staff, we're recalling the staff back.”
Because the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Dilkens says there will be special precautions put in place to make sure that physical distancing guidelines are adhered to.
"So that means around our splash pads we have to install temporary fencing,” he says. “We also have to do the appropriate water quality testing at the beach and build up some additional fencing and additional lifeguard chairs at the beach."
With some splash pads in the city opening on Monday, Dilkens expects to have all city splash pads open by July 13, the beach open within the next two weeks.
City pools will remain closed according to Dilkens, because the current public health guidelines make it too challenging.
A cooling centre was opened last week in downtown Windsor at the aquatic centre.