Almost three decades after the idea was first floated, the Corowa community is celebrating the official opening of its new Aquatic Centre.
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Federation Councillor Fred Longmire said the $10.2 million facility had been a long time coming.
"It makes me pretty proud this day to see it," he said.
"The exercise to replace the old one commenced back in 1993, so it's nearly 30 years.
"We want everyone to come and use it."
Mr Longmire also attended the opening of the old swimming pool in 1956.
"It was a really hot day and they brought the school kids, and I was one of them, down from the primary schools and the high school," he said.
"We stood out here in the sun and we couldn't wait to get in for a swim."
The new facility has a 50 meter competition pool, a kids splash pool and an indoor swimming area.
Federation Youth Council Mayor Dylan Forge said he was "happy" to see the venue open for use.
"We started working on this ages ago and it's just really lovely to see it come out," he said.
"I remember being consulted about the splash park for the youth and we really pushed for that because we thought it would be a great thing for kids.
"We can teach swimming lessons, which is just a great thing, as well, for youth.
"I'll come have a swim...I've been to a lot of pools and I'm very connected to this."
Pool Duty Officer Jo Fenn, who will be managing the facility said it was "exciting" to be able to offer more than "a bit of a hole in the ground".
"It's fully integratable for disability access, so we've got the ramps into both pools, plus the disability change rooms," she said.
"We've got the physio booked in for ongoing sessions as well, so it's going to be definitely used throughout the length of its time.
"It's going to be used by a number of different community groups."
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She said it would be a "one stop shop" for the sporting community with the pool nestled among the town's hockey, football, cricket, tennis and netball facilities.
"I can see a lot of the sporting groups using our facility in summer and in winter for their training sessions," she said.
"It's going to definitely be an asset...I'm just excited for our community to see it.
"There's so many towns around us that have a got a higher population than we do and they don't have a facility like this, so we are very lucky that we have such an amazing precinct in our town that is going to be for us and for the future."
David Hines, from Hines Construction, said about 18 different local businesses were used in building the facility.
He said about 600 cubic meters of concrete, 100 tonnes of steel reinforcement and more than 64 thousand tiles had been used in the construction.
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