Pools at Christchurch City Council's Pioneer pool complex were closed 79 times during 2017 due to vomit and faecal contamination. (File photo)

Vomit and faecal contamination has forced the closure of Christchurch's public pools 178 times during 2017.

The Christchurch City Council has taken steps to reduce closures across its three indoor facilities. This has led to a 20 per cent drop in closures this year compared to 2016 when the pools were closed 224 times.

Figures released to Stuff show Pioneer pool in Spreydon was the hardest hit, experiencing 79 closures, including 50 "code browns" and 26 vomiting incidents. Pioneer pool was closed 93 times in 2016.

Most incidents happened in the leisure pool, which was closed 52 times, followed by the teach pool with 20 closures.

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May and August were particularly bad months for Pioneer pool with 11 and 10 closures respectively. During October, the leisure pool was closed for 26 hours across four days in a row.

Graham Condon Pool in Papanui was closed 64 times in 2017, a drop from 115 closures in 2016. The toddler pool was closed 25 times, followed by the learner pool with 20 closures and the main pool had 13 closures.

Pools at Jellie Park Recreation and Sports Centre were the least affected, closing 35 times during the past year, up from 31 the previous year.

The length of the closures varied from 40 minutes to more than eight hours, depending on the size of the pool.

Water has to go through the filtration system three times before the pool can reopen. This took 1.5 hours for the toddler pool at Graham Condon, but more than eight hours for the complex's lane pool, ​council recreation and sports head John Filsell said.

The cost of the pool closures was hard to quantify because swimming lessons were typically shifted to another pool or the customer received a credit to their account, Filsell said.

"It is hard to anticipate how many people may have come swimming had the pool remained open at any given time."

He said at no point were all pools at a facility closed, so there were typically other swimming opportunities available.

The council took several steps to minimise pool closures including signage, asking parents to ensure their children had been to the toilet before entering the pool, and giving out free nappies and flyers to parents during periods of frequent pool closures.