By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
A pair of Great Bend’s outdoor water features have been cleaned up following last weekend’s strong storm that kicked up a lot of dirt.
The Wetlands Waterpark already had the pool filled up in preparation of this Saturday’s opening day. Great Bend Assistant City Administrator Logan Burns said so much debris and dirt blew into the pool, staff elected to empty the pool, shovel dirt out and power wash the surface.
"Crews did a good job getting that all cleaned up," said Burns. "That will take about a day and a half to fill that pool back up. Water might be a little cold on Saturday, but thankfully it's taken care of now and hopefully we don't have any more storms."
The $680,000 splash pad at Veterans Memorial Park had a ribbon cutting last Friday for its grand opening, then Sunday’s storm forced a closure Monday. Crews had to clean out an inch and a half of mud in the pits at splash pad. The 50' x 70' feature reopened on Tuesday.
"We had a huge turnout for the opening," said Burns. "Everybody showed up to bring that in. I'm happy to say that project is functioning now."
A forecasted high temperature of 75 degrees is needed for the pool to open. As of now, the high for Saturday is forecasted near 80 degrees.