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The long-awaited Borden Park natural swimming pool will welcome its first visitors at noon Wednesday following a hiccup involving a filtration system leak.

The pool will be the first of its kind in Canada. Instead of using chlorine or salt to purify the water, aquatic plants, plankton and a combination of sand and granite filters will be used to keep the water safe.

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City staff posted plans for the grand opening on Facebook Sunday after cancelling the event in mid-June because crews had to dig up the filter tank to fix a leak.

It was the latest delay for the project, which was initially set to launch in the summer of 2016 to become the city’s fifth outdoor pool.

It features a shallow 150-square-metre wading pool for children along with a larger pool 42 metres by 16.8 metres and two metres deep.

Surrounding the pools are 11 species of plants and sand to form a beach-like atmosphere.

The final cost of the project is $14.4 million.