Millennium Park Natural Swimming Ponds - Castlegar, British Columbia - Swimming Holes on Waymarking.com

The three natural ponds are a new addition to Millennium Park, just opening in March of 2014. Each pond has beautiful white sandy beaches and though we were just there in later September it was busy and the children are having a great time in the water.

Millennium Park

Designed with a ‘natural aesthetic’, the ponds blend into the shoreline and offer active water and play opportunities to a wide range of park users, views out across the river, beach areas for picnics and leisure, integrated with other park activities both present and future.

Natural Swimming Ponds

The Natural Swimming Ponds are the key project for the City of Castlegar’s 23 hectare Millennium Park. This recreational space consists of a series of ponds adjacent to the Columbia River designed to bring residents and visitors to the river’s edge and provide a comfortable, fun swimming area.

Created for all ages, the ponds provide different recreational opportunities for families with very young children through to seniors. It will prove to be a regional draw, attracting Castlegar and West Kootenay residents alike.

Pond Facts

All Ponds are surrounded by sand to allow families to group together for swimming and sand fun.
Upper Pond Designed for families with young children: Depth 0.7 metres - Dimensions: 40 metres x 25 metres (approx.)

Mid Pond Designed for teenagers/adults and set lower in elevation than the Upper Pond: Depth 1.6 metres - Dimensions: 75 metres x 40 metres (approx.)

Lower Pond Set at the lowest elevation of the ponds thus allowing a water slide to empty into it. Will accommodate a floating raft in the middle and appeal to users of all ages: Depth 3.6 metres - Dimensions 80 metres x 45 metres (approx.)

Upper Pond Mid Pond Lower Pond

The River:

The Columbia River passes down the length of Castlegar and plays a pivotal role in the West Kootenay region. The recently adopted Millennium Park master plan states the park is “envisioned to be a premier, regional destination park with a strong connection to the water”. The planning process highlighted the residents’ desire to re-connect with the Columbia River and that the community needed better and more ways to enjoy and interact with the river. Given the Columbia’s swift currents and high water fluctuations through the year, a typical beach fronting the river could not fulfill the full vision for the Millennium Park. Consequently the Natural Swimming Ponds were proposed to bring the community and its residents back to the river’s edge while providing them with the assured safety of both water quality and swimming temperatures.

During the day, high quality, ground filtered well water will be drawn from beside the river and fed into the ponds at a rate that would maximize safety and comfort. The high quality water will make a return to the environment through natural looking weirs that provide Natural Swimming Ponds.

The total capacity of the ponds is 4,545 metres. At night, the well water will be diverted to supply the Millennium Park irrigation system thus replacing the chlorinated potable water that is currently used to water the playing fields and garden areas. This eliminates City treated chlorinated water from entering into the Columbia River’s riparian zone and then into the river.

The dual use of water will also reduce the City’s need to produce chlorinated water and hence will provide some energy and treatment plant process reductions that will help reduce the City’s carbon footprint. The Natural Ponds project also benefits the marine ecology of the Columbia River be eliminating an existing land fish trap where, when waters are lowered, fish are stranded in pools between the current shoreline and a small existing island. By constructing the Ponds project, further enhancements to the riparian zone are created further down the park shoreline so that the project is of net benefit to the Columbia River.

In educational terms, the City believes that by providing a safe interactive project such the Natural Swimming Ponds next to the Columbia, a new generation of Castlegar and West Kootenay residents will be re-introduced to the wonders of the Columbia River and grow to further appreciate its beauty and its historical role in the development of the West Kootenay region.
From the Castlegar

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