By next summer, swimmers should be zipping down new speed slides at the Winkler Aquatic Centre.

A Building Sustainable Communities Grant in the amount of $63,787.00 will contribute to the replacement of the centre's two slides.

Jordan Driedger, Winkler's Director of Community Services says the speed slides are the same age as the aquatic centre facility which opened in 1996. He says each year, the slides are inspected and polished, and through that process, it was recently realized the slides needed replacing.

"Once the slides themselves are starting to wear a little bit thin, or fiberglass is revealed through the polish, that's when we start to know that it might be a bigger project than just a refurbishment. So we had the company that built the slide originally, and they did a bit of an inspection for us and determined these slides needed replacing."

At that point, Driedger says they took the steps to begin budgeting and applying for the Building Sustainable Communities Grant.

Driedger says they are still in the tendering process to have the slides replaced, however, it's estimated the grant will cover about 50 per cent of the cost.

The hope is to have the new speed slides ready for use in time for the 2022 swim season.

The aquatic centre's twirly slide, which is the same age as the speed slides, has held up a bit better over the years, according to Driedger. "We know we will need to keep monitoring that slide. It will likely need an inspection in the near future, and then we'll decide the next steps for the twirly slide as well."