GREAT FALLS — At the City Commission meeting on February 6, 2024, $210,931 was awarded for the Electric City Water Park Splash Pad Installation Project. The splash pad will be an area at the pool with no standing water that is safe for children.
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“Kids can just kind of walk on,” said Sylvia Tarman, a Project Manager for the City of Great Falls. “We'll have a number of different little features that, you know, spray water. There's a couple of buckets. There's a couple of little things that you can push a button and the water sprays out and all that. So it's a really interactive, very easy access water feature for the children.”
The splash pad will replace the current baby pool at the water park, which has been difficult to maintain due to leaks, high energy usage, and its need for a lifeguard at all times.
“This water feature gives us the ability to keep that open and not have to rotate a lifeguard in that position,” Tarman said, “Which also saves money and operational costs.”
Once complete, the splash pad is expected to save the city $10,000 per season.
“It’s partial lifeguard savings,” Tarman said, “And it's also our operational efficiencies, the water heating, water distribution and then also the maintenance costs of the infrastructure.”
The city is currently working to find a contractor and schedule the demolition of the current baby pool, but they hope to have the new splash pad installed, up, and running for the next swimming season.
