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Many swimming pools have health violations: CDC

Last Updated: 2003-06-06 10:12:18 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Thousands of swimming pools in the U.S. may be operating in violation of public health codes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Thursday.

The rising numbers of swimming pool-associated outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness over the past decade prompted the CDC to conduct an investigation. Their findings are published in the Morbidity and Mortality and Weekly Report.

Approximately one in four of the outbreaks assessed in the report involved pathogens that are killed by adequate chlorination, suggesting that the pools had "inadequate pool maintenance and disinfection," according to the report.

In their investigation, a team of researchers reviewed data collected from more than 22, 000 pool inspections conducted by local county or state health inspection programs. Information was evaluated from reports collected in Pennsylvania, California, Wyoming, Minnesota and Florida.

Slightly more than half of all pools inspected had one or more violations, according to the report.

Eight percent of violations resulted in immediate closures of pools pending corrections of serious violations, such as a lack of adequate disinfection.

Of the total amount of violations reviewed by the CDC, nearly 40 percent comprised water chemistry violations and a similar percentage of pools were found to have filtration and water recirculation violations. The remaining percentage of violations (about 20 percent) dealt with policy or management issues, the report indicates.

Safe swimming pool water is largely dependent on a combination of water pH and levels of free chlorine that can kill microbes that cause gastrointestinal illness.

Singling out the types of pools that pose the greatest risk was somewhat hampered by the fact that the bulk of reports that were evaluated did not specify the type of pool that was tested -- a hotel, motel, an apartment or condominium complex, for example.

Only about a quarter of pool types could be ascertained from the data, according to the report. Among this group the highest number of violations occurred in child wading pools followed by medical/therapy pools and hotel and motel pools.

"Pool inspections are the primary means of ensuring appropriate pool operation, but resources generally allow only one to three annual inspections of each pool. As a result, pool operators are responsible for maintaining their pools with minimal public health oversight," the CDC writes.

The agency adds that providing increased educational material specifically to pool operators and providing forms for simple monitoring of chlorine and pH levels may be ways to keep future outbreaks at bay.

Even so, they stress that swimmers and pool owners need to take a measure of precaution themselves and avoid swimming when they have diarrhea, not swallow pool water and practice good hygiene when using a pool. This includes taking frequent bathroom breaks and changing the diapers of infants and toddlers often.

Copyright 2002 Reuters