Montrose sports centre staff cleaned until midnight after an overhead waste pipe burst, showering raw sewage into the reception area.
The rupture happened at about 8.30pm on Saturday, while the sports centre was busy with customers and the pool was hosting a swimming gala.
Members of the public saw water leaking from the ceiling before it partially collapsed. It then became evident that the water spilling from above also contained human waste.
Although there were reports of a small number of people being splashed by the dirty water and an awful smell, staff acted quickly to deal with the problem.
While the centre was not immediately shut on Saturday evening, it remained closed on Sunday. Cleaning and repair work also meant the community facility did not reopen until yesterday afternoon.
Angus Council’s social media sites reported on Saturday night that the sports centre would be closed on Sunday “due to internal maintenance issues” before confirming that it wold reopen later on Monday.
A council spokesman said: “On Saturday night a pipe burst at the leisure centre causing waste water to leak into the ceiling of the reception area.
“Staff immediately contacted a plumber who arrived within 20 minutes to stop the leak and unblock the pipes.
“Our staff remained on site and worked to clean up the mess until midnight.
“The centre remained closed on Sunday while the affected areas were deep cleaned and the plumber carried out remedial work.
“On Monday we erected scaffolding to allow the joiner and electrician to carry out work to the ceiling areas at reception.
“The centre will reopen today at 4pm and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused to users of the centre.”
Both council and community will be pleased the problem was put right so quickly and that it did not directly affect the pool area.
Arbroath swimming pool was closed for several days and on more than one occasion late last year so that deep cleaning work could expunge the cryptosporidium bug from the pool.
The contamination was believed to have been caused by infected swimmers.