Calls for new hygiene standards for city swimming pools

Officials from the Shanghai Municipal Health Inspection Institute test the water quality at the Rainbow Hotel swimming pool. Photo: Yang Hui/GT

Shanghai's 600 or so public swimming pools are enjoying their most popular time of the year. But not all swimmers are enjoying the experience in these pools. Many are questioning the hygiene standards established for swimming pools.

To keep the pools up to scratch and protect the public the Shanghai Municipal Health Inspection Institute has been testing the water quality for swimming pools in the city since July 1.

Inspectors from the institute have been arriving at venues and taking samples from different parts of the pool. They check these samples for microflora levels and physical and chemical levels, especially for chlorine, pH levels and also measure the water's clarity. Fudan University's public health professor Song Weimin said the chlorine and pH levels and clarity were the three most important factors for water quality in swimming pools.

Song said chlorine was used for killing bacteria but the levels had to be kept between 0.3 and 0.5 microgram per liter. Too little chlorine is ineffective, but too much can irritate swimmers and lead to throat and nasal problems, especially in indoor swimming pools where ventilation is poorer. Chlorine works best when the pH level stays between 6.5 and 8.5 and this is the ideal pH level for swimmers.

Murky water

The main complaints from swimmers are about swimming pools with murky water, said the institute's deputy head of hygiene supervision, Mo Weiwen. "Some swimming pools are obviously not clean and clear. Swimmers tell us and usually their opinions are supported by our tests," said Mo.

By July 28, the institute had visited and tested 231 swimming pools (including those in hotels and residential neighborhoods). Seven of them were found to have higher than specified levels of microflora, and 11 failed to meet two or more physical or chemical standards.

"The penalties for swimming pools that don't comply with the standards can include warnings and fines but we think the best penalty is publicity," experts from the institute told the Global Times.

The offending swimming pools were ordered to correct the problems immediately. Institute inspectors advised management staff on site and warned them to pay more attention to hygiene and sanitation. The swimming pool at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, in Baoshan district, was found to have too little chlorine along with urea being detected. The hotel's pool is free for guests but members of the public can use it. A maximum of 20 swimmers are allowed in the pool at any time.

On August 4 the Global Times talked to the hotel's front office manager, who said the swimming pool had hired a professional pool cleaning company several years ago. "We used to do it ourselves but we then thought it would be safer if we handed these duties over to a third party," she said.

The manager said that after the pool water was found to have failed the hygiene tests hotel staff had begun supervising the cleaners more strictly to ensure that they were doing their jobs properly. Now hotel staff test the pool water constantly and the results are shown on a poolside screen monitor which is updated every 20 minutes.

Improving awareness

The way this hotel has responded to its initial test failing is exactly what the institute wants. "The key to eliminating problems with public swimming pools is that the pools improve their awareness and self-management," institute experts said. Deputy head Mo said the institute had now ensured every swimming pool has a staff member dedicated to cleaning and maintaining the pool hygienically.

The Global Times accompanied institute inspectors as they tested swimming pools at the Shanghai International Gymnastic Center and the Rainbow Hotel on July 31. Both these pools had their pH and chlorine levels displayed beside the pool and the inspectors' tests showed these were accurate.

The tests on these pools also showed that the levels of bacteria were being kept at an acceptable level - unlike the pool at Shanghai Normal University's Fengxian campus which had excessive levels of fecal bacteria and was one of the seven venues where microflora levels were exceeded. In 2012, the institute started a pilot project to set up electronic monitors in swimming pools.

Mo told the Global Times that over the past two years, the institute had carried out a pilot project, monitoring levels remotely at four city swimming pools. But this was costly. The institute had paid for the equipment which cost some 80,000 yuan ($12,967) along with a 1o,000 yuan maintenance fee annually. "This is not a small cost. Sometime this system will be introduced on a larger scale," Mo said.