Manitou Springs resort owners protest closure

The pool at the Manitou Springs resort near Watrous has been closed by Saskatoon Health Region officials — despite protests by management that the water is safe.

On Friday, a note was posted on the Manitou Springs Hotel and Mineral Spa’s website explaining the closure, which is listed as due to contravention of regulations for the skimmers and filtration system.

The hotel, restaurants, gift shop and other businesses connected to the springs remain open.

The message, signed by Manitou Springs Mineral Spa management, said information of the closure came in the form of a phone call at 4 p.m. on Thursday, with the closure effective at 10 p.m. Friday. The length of the closure has not been determined. The note emphasizes that the situation is not due to patrons becoming ill or any kind of tragedy.

Dr. Johnmark Opondo, deputy medical health officer with the Saskatoon Health Region, said the pool has been operating under a probationary licence for some time, with the first probationary licence issued Feb. 12, 2008. He confirmed the closure, but was only prepared to say it is because the pool "is not compliant with provincial health regulations."

But Manitou Springs management says the closure is unfair.

"Manitou Springs agrees that most of our skimmers are plugged with a very hard encrustation, resulting from 23 years of mineral salt buildup on the inside of the skimmer piping. However, we have proven to the Department of Health, with a recent comprehensive engineer’s report, that our pool water flows through (turns over) our filter system approximately 14 times per day. The minimum required turnover of any pool is four times a day through its filter system," says the message on the business’s website.

The website says the operation’s management is "shocked and upset" over the decision by health officials to close the pool but is unable to comment any further.

"The new board of directors and management that took over the operations in Sept. of 2009 have tried their best to comply with every demand of the Dept. of Health, despite their lack of communication, and unwillingness to answer our questions regarding this and other issues.

"We ultimately view this as an unfair attack, on what we feel is a world class resort and spa."

The posting concludes with a list of contact numbers for Saskatoon Health Region officials, MLAs and MPs.

Manitou Springs Hotel and Mineral Spa is 100 kilometres southeast of Saskatoon.