With the Riverside Park spray park not operational this summer, a Kamloops City Councillor is hoping to see a temporary pop-up water park set up.

Mike O’Reilly told his colleagues at Tuesday’s council meeting that he was disappointed to hear that supply chain issues mean there will be one less option for families and children in Kamloops to cool down.

“That water park is a key asset for families and kids to cool down in the summer,” he said. “I’m also concerned that by default, we are actually going to be having more kids using the river because they need somewhere to cool down.”

O’Reilly said a similar plan to set up a pop-up spray park was approved in Vernon as a community pool there is closed for major renovations.

A report to Vernon City Council says there are portable water spray features that can be connected to a garden hose making set up and take down easier as it does not require the use of firetrucks or hydrants. Firefighters in Vernon hosted “a small number” of pop-up spray events in 2021 before it had to be curtailed due to the extreme wildfire risk.

“What I’m hoping to do is to ask staff to report back with a temporary water park solution as has been done in a nearby municipality to us,” O’Reilly said. “After this summer usage here, it could be used in future years at other events throughout the city and moved from neighbourhood to neighbourhood.”

It is not clear how much the pop-up spray park would cost the City of Kamloops but in Vernon, council approved spending about $45,000 to buy the necessary apparatus. Kamloops City staff will be back with some options at the next council meeting on July 19.

“I have spoken with staff about this and also procedurally not going through the notice of motion process is that there is no information for us to actually decide on today,” O’Reilly said.

“This is simply asking staff to report back. They felt there was enough time to report back for July 19 with different options as well as with the funding requirements and how that could be funded.”