A board of inquiry set up to look into how the problem of water contamination at the Splash and Fun Park was managed has highlighted areas which could have been generally managed better and made a number of recommendations to improve procedures currently in use.

The board was set up by the Superintendent of Public Health.

It did not identify any public official as being negligent or guilty of omission and did not consider the public as having been exposed to any risk.

Although the report and handling of the contamination identified on July 12 were deemed to have been handled well by the department, the board noted that no repeat sampling was immediately carried out at the time and samples were only taken 12 days later. It recommended that repeat sampling should be carried out sooner.

The board criticised the department for not following up the complaint and only taking the case up again when the second complaint was received.

It criticised the department for an excessive delay in dealing with the complaint and recommended that complaints should be tackled more rapidly and that vigilance of such complexes should be increased in summer.

The board suggested that the current practice of taking samples in the morning is extended for samples to also be taken throughout the day.

It said that since the legislation did not stipulate what was to be done in cases of contamination, written guidelines should be established on action to be taken.

The report has been passed on to the relevant department for the implementation of the Board’s recommendations, the Government said.