Swimming Pools
Come on in, the water’s lovely.
A few changes to the swimming experience
All lane swimming sessions will operate using double-width lanes. Capacity will be based on industry guidelines and will be continually reviewed.
Lane sessions and public swim sessions do not require any pre booking but waiting times may occur during busy periods.
Please ensure you are swimming in the correct lane. Details for lane ability are shown below;
- Fast Lane – Customers will spend most of their session swimming front crawl, no backstroke.
- Medium Lane – This lane is suitable for customers who undertake a variety of strokes.
- Slow Lane – Customers are likely to do the majority of swimming breaststroke.
*IMPORTANT* Lifeguards are present for the safety of all swimmers and may ask you to change lanes if they feel it is necessary. Please respect the decision of the lifeguard at all times and treat all staff, and fellow swimmers, with respect.
Swimming at Mid Devon Leisure
Our pools at Exe Valley Leisure Centre and Lords Meadow Leisure Centre are both supplied by a private borehole water source 40m below ground. This water supply is filtered and treated prior to entering the circulating system, and the pool water is disinfected with a combination of Ultra Violet, and low levels of chlorine. The pools range in temperature from 28 – 31 degrees and are tested for quality 5 times each day. The operational teams are qualified to undertake routine maintenance on the disinfection and circulation systems on a daily and weekly basis, and our water quality is also tested externally under laboratory conditions each month. All of our pools are covered overnight to reduce heat loss and have a removable hoist to assist users with disabilities access in and out of the water.
If you or your children have been ill within the past 48 hours please resist the temptation of visiting the pools to prevent the spread of contamination. In extreme circumstances, it may be necessary to close our pools, particularly if there is a risk of cryptosporidium.
Our poolside recreation assistants have all achieved the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification, and undertake 2 hours of training each month in areas such as emergency planning, first aid and C.P.R, and undertake many operational duties when away from the poolside areas.
Did You Know…
…we are converting our chlorine based indoor pools at Lords Meadow Leisure Centre and Exe Valley Leisure Centre to Electro-Chlorination using salt. Using salt is cleaner, safer and offers a more soothing swim for our customers to enjoy when swimming at our facilities. Lords Meadow swimming pool went live with this change earlier this week whilst Exe Valley Pools will move across to the new system next week.
What is Electro-Chlorination?
A pool using salt is chlorinated using a special piece of equipment called a salt chlorine generator. You can use regular salt in our pools. Ordinary salt is chemically made up of two elements: sodium and chlorine. When pool water comes into contact with the salt chlorine generator, the machine turns the salt in the water into hypochlorous acid.
Salt chlorinated pools out-performed chlorine based pools in every aspect related to health, cleanliness, and body benefits. These are the main reason we chose a salt water solution vs. Chlorine.
· Pools using Electro-Chlorination are better for the environment.
· Pools using Electro-Chlorination are more gentle on the skin, eyes, swimwear, and hair due to the lower chlorine content.
· They don’t have the traditional heavy chemical smell many people dislike about chlorine pools.
· A pool using Electro-Chlorination will help keep your body moisture balance and won’t strip your body and hair of natural oils. The water is softer and will leave you feeling nice and silky after a swim.
· No side effects from traditional chlorination systems.
· Cleaner than Chlorine based pools by nature.
· Chlorine may irritate the eyes and skin- salt water will not.
· Creates its own chlorine using salt through a process called electrolysis.
· Gentle on eyes and skin compared to chlorine.
· A more natural option than chlorine.
· Enjoy more swim time–less chemicals.
Salt makes you more buoyant – look forward to smashing those PBs
Exe Valley Leisure Centre
Main Pool
- 6 Lanes
- 25 metres long
- 12.5 metres wide
- 1 meter at the shallow end
- 2 metres at the deep end
- Temperature 28-29 degrees Celsius
- Hoist access for users with disabilities
Learner Pool
- Can be divided into 2 areas
- 10 metres long
- 12.5 metres wide
- 0.75 metres deep with staggered steps
- Temperature 30-31 degrees Celsius
Lords Meadow Leisure Centre
Main Pool
- 4 Lanes
- 25 metres in length
- 9 metres wide
- 1 metre at the shallow end
- 2 metres at the deep end
- Temperature 29-30 degrees Celsius
- Hoist access for users with disabilities
Learner Pool
- 8 metres long
- 9 metres wide
- 0.75 metres deep with staggered steps
- Temperature 29-30 degrees Celsius
We pride our water quality to be of the highest standards and welcome any questions you may have about our systems.
Adult & Child Pool Ratios
All children under 8 must be accompanied in the water by a competent adult swimmer aged 16 yrs+ at all times.
Main Pool
Learner Pool
One adult can accompany up to two children aged 4-7 in the main pool.
Children under the age of 4 must be accompanied on a one to one basis.
One adult can accompany up to three children in the learner pool: two aged 4 – 7 years and one child under 4 if wearing buoyancy aids.
One adult can accompany two children under 4 in the learner pool if both are wearing buoyancy aids.
Children aged 8 years and over are not permitted in the learner pool while in use by under 8 year olds, unless they are with their family with younger children.
