If all goes to schedule, people will be able to dip their toes in the water of Buffalo Pound Provincial Park’s new swimming pool in 2020.

Byron Davis, executive director with park infrastructure and capital planning with Sask. Parks, said it wasn’t feasible to refurbish the old pool after a review.

“There were severe issues with piping and filtration systems and so on,” said Davis. “The decision has been made to replace the pool and we’re happy to announce that will take place beginning this year.”

Tenders will be out within a couple of weeks.

“We hope to award a contract by late June and actually start construction this summer,” Davis said. “Construction will take place through the summer and fall and we’ll be finished up next spring, so that for the summer of 2020, we should have the pool back in operation.”

Davis said the new pool, which has been budgeted at $2.5 million, will be built with universal design principles in mind and will be able to have small children and those with limited mobility enter the pool with a sloped entry system.

“There will be a deeper portion to accommodate swimming and swimming lessons,” he said. “There are a couple of buildings with the pool. One will be a change house building and the other with the mechanical systems and admissions services for the facility.”

They will also use some of the existing facilities in the area, to help provide some cost savings for the project. The location of the pool will be in roughly the same area the old one was, Davis said.

“We’ve got demolition completed on the former pool now and the new facility will be developed in the same general.. day use area of Buffalo Pound park.”