The longstanding annual event will return to the city pool on Sunday, after the venue was reopened last month.

Last year's carnival was held at Scully Park, as the city pool was closed due to the drought.

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"It's very nice to be back in this pool and have this carnival," said TCSC coach Nicolas Monet, adding that for the club "it is very important to be back there."

Monet said the club's membership increased after the pool reopened.

"Since we've been back, with our swim camps we've never had that many members ... So it's amazing," he said.

"It's just a fantastic atmosphere to be back there," he added.

The carnival is normally held in February. But Monet does not believe staging it in January will impact negatively on his charges.

"Our swimmers, lots of them trained during that period [Christmas] ... It's the first year not too many swimmers went away, maybe because of COVID.

"So we had more swimmers at home ... it was a good time to train."