‘It would be the key to getting all the beach pool movement happening from Albany to Geraldton,’ Scarborough beach pool proponent Leisha Jack said.
Ms Jack is lobbying for an Olympic-sized beach pool in the State Government’s Scarborough beachfront redevelopment, and said she was confident it would be considered but a Cottesloe pool would be first in WA.
Merriwa resident Lewis Flood has spent three years pushing for a rectangular 50m-long, 30m-wide ocean pool at Quinns Beach, about 30km north of Cottesloe.
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READ NOW‘With this ocean pool design there’s no maintenance and it would only need someone coming down each day to see if anything had washed in,’ Mr Flood said.
Ms Jack and Mr Flood are taking inspiration from the 75m-long, 25m-wide, rock pool worth $1.65 million proposed for the north side of Cottesloe Groyne put forward by Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club member Tom Locke, since Ken Crew was killed by a great white shark at North Cottesloe in 2000.
Mr Locke recently had the design tested successfully by the Centre for Water Research at the University of WA for regular flushing by waves, lack of winter weed congestion and erosion.
However, opposition to the proposal has included some daily swimmers fearing the pool could take up beach and water space, and some surfers are concerned it could alter their winter surf break at the end of the groyne.
‘My message after 12 years is ‘listen to the scientists’, after we had help from the Centre for Water Research’s Jorg Imberger, and the Australian Institute of Sports’ John Bloomfield look at the internal design of the pool for its use by the disabled,’ Mr Locke said.