In an effort to reduce the mosquito population and the spread of West Nile virus, the City of Windsor is reminding pool owners they should be open within the next few days.
The city says under its swimming pool by-law, all pools are required to be in full operation by May 24th.
Manager of Inspections, Rob Vani says the by-law was created in 2010 with hopes of reducing mosquito breeding areas as well as the spread of the West Nile virus.
He says some pool owners are still not complying with the rules.
Vani says last year the city received about 170 complaints about the issue.
"It's on an upward trend, not a downward trend and I think that has to do partially due to just demographics," he says. "We have an aging population, they're not using pools as much. So we're noticing, just anecdotally, there are a lot more pools that are not being opened."
Vani says pool owners not following the by-law can be issued an order to comply.
"It's creating more requests for service from the building department to go out and investigate these non-compliant pools, deal with the property owners, you try to bring them into compliance," he says.
(Photo via iStock.com/K_Thalhofer)
While they try to work with pool owners, Vani says they can also issue a violation fee of $260.
"It could always be issued an order to comply, to comply with the by-law, to put their pool into operation or to clear off the top of their cover of their pool of any debris or standing water," he says.
The by-law also calls on pool owners to install proper winter covers after September 1st, for pools no longer in use.