The bathing season will open in Haifa, this Friday 5/4/2019 with eight lifeguard stations: Carmel Beach, Zamir Beach, Dado Beach, Bat Galim Beach and "Naot" Beach in Kiryat Haim.
A week later, on Friday 12/4/2019, all 14 lifeguard stations will be opened on all city beaches, which will be manned between the hours of 08:00 - 18:00.
The Beaches Division of the Haifa Municipality is currently completing its preparations for the start of the season after the wing's employees have recently carried out maintenance, upgrading and development work As part of this, the winter damage was repaired and extensive access work was carried out in the passages between the parking lots the public ones for the beach promenades and in the cloakroom and toilet buildings.
These days, the changing rooms and bathrooms are being renovated at Bat Galim Beach, where a new roof has been installed. New restrooms, showers and a lifeguard station are being built at Navot beach as part of the restoration of the beach from winter damage. At the same time, the municipality is renovating the shade sheds and the rescue stations, which are painted in new colors, and all the announcement systems at the rescue stations and promenades have also been replaced and upgraded. In the meantime, all the lifeguards underwent refresher training and communication and rescue equipment was placed at their disposal, which includes, among other things, 5 jet skis stationed on the beaches of Kiryat Haim, Bat Galim, Carmel and Dedo. During the coming weeks, the rescue system will be strengthened with two more jet skis that will be made available to the rescuers.
Haifa's bathing beaches continue to maintain their international prestige with 9 blue flags: 6 of the flags will be flown on the beaches of Dado - Zamir that won this excellence The 7th year in a row. 2 flags are raised for the 3rd time at "Naot" beach in Kiryat Haim and another blue flag was awarded for the 2nd year to Galim beach.
Yehiel (Hilik Amsalem), director of the beach department of the Haifa municipality, said in a conversation with Lahi Fe:
"We have invested a lot in upgrading and renovating the beaches and making them accessible to those with disabilities, all for the well-being and enjoyment of the public. We are in the final stages of renovating the bay beach in Karim Haim, where the rescue structure was damaged by the weather. the changing rooms and we made them accessible to the disabled in addition to the many accesses from Naot Beach to Dado. In the parking lots we made promenade routes accessible for people with various disabilities, we added toilet cubicles in Dado, in Zamir and in many places. For the rescue system we purchased two more motorcycles to provide a better response and this is added to the five that already exist. This week we are training for inspectors , the guidelines are refreshed and there was a training week for lifeguards that included a refresher on first aid, professional content, a workshop on making decisions under conditions of exposure to the sun and more.
In addition, there was a building on Zamir Beach that was used as a warehouse and I turned it into a toilet cubicle to serve parents who accompany the disabled children because they cannot enter normal and accessible toilets. If it is a mother accompanying the son, she cannot enter the women's or men's bathroom with him, and vice versa. Therefore, they can go to our office and get a key to the services intended for accompanying parents because it is very important for us to invest and provide service to the disabled public and those with disabilities who will also come and enjoy. We also sorted out the parking spaces reserved for the manager and the department's employees. We moved them to a distant place and instead designated the parking lots for the disabled so that they would be closer to the sea. It is also important to note that these days we are finishing the installation of hot water in the cloakrooms of Naot, Zamir and Carmel beaches.
Unfortunately, we suffer from vandalism, so I urge the bathing public to take care of the wardrobes and toilets because a lot has been invested in renewing them. And also swim at declared beaches. I also urge them to maintain cleanliness. It is important if we all together take care of the environment because the plastic bags are very damaging to the marine environment and the plastic cups that are washed into the sea and harm the flora and fauna. We would be happy for the public to help us to maintain the cleanliness and also the environment, which is important to us."
