Choosing the right swim school or public pool

Learning to swim is an extremely important skill, especially here in Australia where surf, sea and sand make up a huge part of our lifestyle. When choosing a suitable swim school/public pool most parents look for clean, safe and functional facilities, a good curriculum, staff credentials, class availability and pricing however often fail to consider the importance of water quality when making a decision.

We all have different priorities but I think it’s safe to say that every one of us finds the health of our family at the top of the list. With this in mind, let’s look at some reasons why you should also consider asking about the sanitation system in place and how facility management are active in their duty to meet health standards.

First and foremost, poorly maintained water can be hazardous to your childs health. Even a supportive parent cheering on the sidelines can be adversely affected with respiratory discomfort if adequate ventilation is not provided within indoor facilities. Does your child complain of red itchy eyes or dry skin following a trip to the pool? Do they have a strong ‘chlorine’ smell on their skin/bathers after swimming? This is not something you should ignore or accept as standard practice as it can be completely avoided. Sadly, not all public pools comply with regulated water standards and in a lot of cases just don’t have the adequate equipment to maintain those standards, especially those that have a high volume of bathers.

It’s common knowledge that chemicals such as Chlorine are added to pool water to provide swimmers with protection against bacteria etc. The unfortunate nature of swimming pools however is that swimmers are a major source of pollutants (Ammonia from sweat and urine) which react with Chlorine to form chemical by-products known as Chloramines and Cyanogen Chloride (tear gas). Did you know that it is these Chloramines (not Chlorine) that are directly responsible for the distinct Chlorine odour as well as eye, nose, throat and lung irritations. Cyanogen Chloride adversely affects our lungs, central nervous and cardiovascular systems.

Basic primary sanitation systems don’t remove Chloramines/Cyanogen Chloride from the water and are also rendered useless against parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia which have become immune to Chlorine at standard pool operating levels.

Chloramines are dissolved in pool water, however, Chloramine gas (Trihalomethane) can be released into the air when water surface tension is broken resulting in the strong ‘chlorine’ odour in the air. Staff and swimmers who experience long term exposure may develop allergic sensitivities and will react to even low levels of Chloramines which may force them to avoid the water altogether.

Showers prior to swimming are encouraged to help lower the amount of Ammonia entering the water and minimise Chloramine build up risk.

Not only is regular maintenance and water balancing important to avoid health issues, adequate ventilation is also critical in maintaining clean air and a healthy swimming environment.

In addition to Chloramines and Cyanogen Chloride, the following ‘unintentional release’ material is typically swimming with you in a public pool:

• 0.14 grams of faecal matter per bather;
• 6 million skin cells per bather after 15 minutes;
• Minimum 30mls of urine per bather;
• 1 litre of sweat per bather, per hour; and
• Inorganic products such as sunscreen and body lotions/moisturisers

When you add the urine that is intentionally released you can certainly see how hard sanitation systems have to work to maintain water quality.
So what are your options?

Look for a swim school/public pool that has invested in a suitable ‘secondary’ sanitation system – particularly Ozone. If you are fortunate enough to live near a swim school/public pool that has, here’s a short explanation of why you are lucky!

Ozone (O3), also known as ‘activated oxygen’ is composed of three Oxygen atoms and is a naturally occurring oxidiser that protects our planet in the atmosphere. If you drink bottled water, odds are it has been purified by Ozone.

Following injection into the water Ozone will safely oxidise organic material, impurities, Chloramines, Cyanogen Chloride, bacteria and viruses. Ozone will not create an unsafe chemical residual as once it has oxidised pollutants (3500 times faster than Chlorine) it breaks down into simple Oxygen which leaves the water noticeably softer and crystal clear. Ozone is also remarkable in the fact that it will effectively destroy Chlorine-resistant parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia which are known to cause severe gastric illness. At the very least, this means that you no longer need to worry about your family being exposed to high levels of Chlorine as when using Ozone, Chlorine levels can be dramatically reduced.

So if you are not 100% happy with the water at your local swim school/public pool, please feel free to let us know by nominating them on our website. We can definitely help them, and your families health will be the ultimate beneficiary.