Canterbury Woods Pool Vandalized With Kitty Litter Twice in One Month

For the second time in a month, Canterbury Woods Pool near Springwoods Drive has been vandalized with kitty litter, LRPRA Recreation Director Shirley Couteau told Patch. 

Sometime between Aug. 12 at 9:30 p.m., when the lifeguards left the pool, and Aug. 13 at 10 a.m., when the lifeguards came to open the pool once more, an unknown person or group of persons dumped large amounts of dirty kitty litter into the pool, filled the trash cans with "pet-related trash" and put one of the pool's large blue metal picnic tables into the pool, Couteau said.

The pool was drained and cleaned on Monday, and is currently being refilled. Couteau said the pool may be able to reopen on Friday. 

"This is the second time it has happened," she said. "It happened the first time after the pool closed on July 27. When the guards came on the 28th, they came and saw the kitty litter." 

The pool was closed for a day and a half while staff vacuumed the kitty litter and filtered the pool repeatedly. But it wasn't as much kitty litter that time, she said.

Couteau said that this time there was so much kitty litter that the only way to clean the pool was to drain it.

"It just proved too much to clean the kitty litter" with only a vacuum, she said.

Now they're refilling the pool with tap water, and then they'll have to mix all the necessary chemicals back into the water. The refilling process takes the longest. 

Despite rumors to the contrary, the pool will remain open for the rest of the summer, Couteau said. "We anticipate opening sometime Friday, but knock on wood."

The LRPRA is offering a reward of up to $500 for information leading to the arrest of anyone who may have vandalized the pool.

"Call 911 for an act in progress or 703-491-2154 to provide information,"a post on the LRPRA Facebook page read.