Prairie Village closes pool for season over crypto concerns

If you were hoping to head to the pool one last time this season, we’ve got some bad news.

Prairie Village and Fairway are closing their pools earlier than scheduled this year in response to concerns over the spread of cryptosporidium. The decision was made Monday after several of the municipalities in the superpass pool program decided to heed the county’s recommendation that all seasonal pools close for the remainder of the year.

“As great as the superpass is, in a situation like this, it’s a challenge,” said Chris Engel, assistant to the Prairie Village city administrator. “If you close one pool, a person who might be contagious can just go to any of the others. So we decided the best thing to do would be to all close together.”

Prairie Village superclorinated its pool last Monday as a precautionary measure against the infection, and got clearance from the county to open last Tuesday. New warnings from the county, however, suggested it would be safest to close for the rest of the season, Engel said.

The pool had been scheduled to remain open through Labor Day.