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Why is Urbandale preparing their parks for the winter early this year?

The Urbandale Parks and Recreation are winterizing the park early this year to keep pipes from freezing.

URBANDALE, Iowa —

Winter isn't here just yet, but parks in the Des Moines metro are already preparing for the cold. Urbandale Parks and Recreation is getting the winterization process started early. 

But what is winterization? 

It's when something—like a car, or in this case, water fountains and bathrooms—is prepared for use in the cold weather. However, these fountains and bathrooms will be closed this season. 

"What we do is we just we disconnect everything, we blow the lines out to make sure there's no water in there and then we close them down for the season," said Scott Hack, Assistant Director of Parks for the City of Urbandale. 

So why is Urbandale getting started so early this year?

With the annual potential for heavy winter weather rolling in, park officials want to be ready before things get worse. 

"The parks are still open ... you can still go out and enjoy the playground equipment or do the trails on a nice day." Hack said. "It's just the restrooms and stuff are shut down. We shut down our irrigation all of those things this time of year just to avoid any freezing pipes."

Ames Parks and Recreation will also start its winterization process on Wednesday. 

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