A community-run swimming pool in Newcastle Emlyn has been left badly out of pocket after a man admitted deliberately fouling the water on multiple occasions.
The repeated contamination forced the charity-run pool to close again and again over several months, cancelling swimming lessons, refunding customers and losing vital income.
Pool staff said there were 18 separate incidents between 2 February and 21 May this year, each one shutting the pool while cleaning and safety checks were carried out.
Dyfed-Powys Police said a 19-year-old man from the Cardigan area was identified and interviewed, and fully admitted the offences.
The force gave the period of the incidents as running between November 2025 and May 2026, and said the matter had been resolved through an adult community resolution.
A community resolution is an out-of-court disposal, often used for first-time offenders, aimed at making them face up to the impact of what they have done. It is not a criminal conviction.
The investigation has now been closed.
For the pool, the damage had been mounting for months — and its frustration was plain to see.
Through the spring, its Facebook page filled with closure notices. At first there was gallows humour: one post in March noted it was “the second time this week” and joked that it was “Friday 13th after all.”
But as the closures kept coming — four Fridays in a row at one point — the tone hardened.
Staff brought in mandatory showers before swimming, cleared the pool early for water checks, and pleaded with users to help, initially believing many of the incidents might be down to sickness bugs.
By the time the cause became clear, the pool was warning it could not keep absorbing the losses. “As a charity-run swimming pool, repeated closures have a significant impact on our ability to operate,” one post said.
The pool is run as a charity and is separate from the neighbouring Newcastle Emlyn Leisure Centre, which is operated by Carmarthenshire County Council. The two sit independently on the same school campus.
In a statement after the investigation closed, the pool said the financial hit had been significant, with money lost to refunds, cancelled bookings and reduced footfall.
“Our funds have been depleted by these incidents and any donations or offers of financial help would be greatly appreciated,” a spokesperson said.
The pool thanked its customers for sticking by it, and praised the staff who trawled hours of CCTV to identify the person responsible.
It said there had been no further contamination incidents or closures since.
