The previous facility — six lanes and a learner pool — was tired, limited and uninviting. Expect Te Puna o Whakaehu is be used by many, many more people and more widely. The eight-lane lap, the leisure, the learn-to-swim, the hydrotherapy and the spa pools combine to offer lots of options.
The journey to the opening yesterday was difficult. Not surprisingly, the need for the expense of the new pool was closely questioned. Mosgiel, even if it feels separate, is relatively close to the central city and Moana Pool, especially once Fairfield was bypassed by the Southern Motorway.
Pools are not only expensive to build, they are also pricey to run and maintain. In some ways, it is these ongoing costs that should have been the biggest deterrent.
More debt plus more ongoing expenses over many years adds to Dunedin’s rating burden. There is also the difference between what is essential — the likes of Three Waters replacement — and "nice to have". In that space, too, there are always competing demands.
However, Moana Pool is often stretched. Not only did the old Mosgiel pool require replacement, but greater Dunedin needed more capacity. Mosgiel/Taieri is also the part of the city that has been growing the fastest.
Crucial, too, was the advocacy from Mosgiel and the willingness to raise money to make sure the project went ahead and more than the barest minimum was built. In the end, the community raised an impressive $4 million for a complex that grew to cost about $19.2 million. While the ambitious goal of $7.5 million was not reached, the $4 million gathered is still quite some achievement.
The key was the vigorous involvement of Irene Mosley. She has the gusto and determination to be a formidable fundraiser and advocate.
What has been achieved is the biggest development in Dunedin swimming since the visionary building of Moana Pool, on the site of the old Moana Tennis Club. It opened in 1964 at a cost of £450,000.
Who knows? The addition of Te Puna o Whakaehu could help inspire another champion.
Pools for teaching basic swimming skills are more important than ever, particularly as the cost as well as health and safety pressures have prompted some school pool closures over the years. Fewer young people these days know how to swim compared with, say, the 1960s and 1970s. Drowning rates in New Zealand, though, are disturbingly high.
The use of a Māori name for the new pool raised consternation in a few quarters in Mosgiel. No doubt, however, residents will become used to the name, given by Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou and named for the stream that flows next to the building. The history behind the name and the incorporation of mana whenua narrative through the design adds to the pool’s place and its stature.
The opening of Te Puna o Whakaehu yesterday and the pool party next Saturday are opportunities for celebration.
While these are focused in the town itself, the pool should be seen as a Dunedin-wide asset. Just as, over the decades, Taieri people have come in to enjoy Moana Pool, residents from all over the city can appreciate what Te Puna o Whakaehu has to offer.
