S.L. 465.2 Art. 12Offences. Re-numbered by: L.N. 135 of 2008. occasionally as no faecal he operating whirlpools, pools whirlpools, pools ach ing and whirlpools other type of check water one turnover and the pool the pools or, during non- Legionella and exceed 10 per should be of the control be re-samples. It risk ass

Any person who fails to comply with any of the provisions of these regulations shall be guilty of an offence under the Act.

SCHEDULE I MINIMUM LEVELS FOR MICROBIOLOGICAL PARAMETERS

PARAMETER LIMITS REMARKS Heterotrophic <=10 cfu per 100 If higher colony counts are plate count ml f ollowing found, this is acceptable as long

(HPC) incubation at 37ºC coliforms are present and t for 24 h conditions of the pool are satisfactory. Teaching and hydrotherapy pools Faecal <1 cfu per 100 ml For disinfected pools coliform and/or Non-disinfected pools, hot tubs, E. coli spas, teaching and hydrotherapy Faecal <1 cfu per 100 ml For disinfected pools streptococci Non-disinfected pools, hot tubs, spas, teaching and hydrotherapy 1 Pseudomonas <1 cfu per 100ml For disinf ected pools, te aeruginosa hydrotherapy pools. 1 <10 cfu per 100ml Non-disinfected pools, hot tubs, and spas. Staphylococcus <1 cfu per 100 ml1 All types of swimming pools aureus Legionella <1 000 cf u p er For whirlpools, spas and any litre2 pools as per regulation 4(1)(c)

1 If high counts are found (>100 cfu per 100 ml), pool operators should clarity, disinfectant residuals and pH, resample, backwash thoroughly, wait resample. If high levels of P. aeruginosa and/or Staphylococcus aureus remain, should be closed and thorough cleaning and disinfection programme initiated. In the case for non-chlorinated spa pools, draining, cleaning and refilling alternatively, heating water to 70ºC and cooling to normal operating temperature use periods might be sufficient to control P. aeruginosa (as well as Mycobacterium). These measures could be used when levels of P. aeruginosa 100 ml. 2 If cfu for Legionella is more than 1,000 and up to 10,000, the sample confirmed by immediate re-sampling. If similar count is found again, a review measures and risk assessment should be carried out to identify any remedial actions. If cfu for Legionella is more than 10,000, the system should immediately should then be ‘shot dosed’ with an appropriate biocide, as a precaution. The and control measures should be reviewed to identify remedial actions. The immediately closed. SCHEDULE II WATER LEVELS FOR PHYSICO-CHEMICAL PARAMETERS

LIMITS REMARKS 7.2 - 7.6 pH PH value adjustment will generally depend on whether the disinfectant used is itself alkaline 1 or acidic. 0.5 NTU Exceedance of turbidity standard suggests both a significant deterioration in water quality and a significant health hazard. 2 1 - 3 ppm (mg/l) Free chlorine residuals above 5 ppm (mg/l) in swimming pool water may present a health-based hazard to users. Normal max. 0.5 High levels indicate that there is too much ppm (mg/l) or less ammonia coming from sweat and urine of bathers, indicating that bathing loads or Absolute max. 1.0 pollution from bathers may be too high or that ppm (mg/l) dilution is too low. 3 30 ppm (mg/l) - If levels higher than 100 ppm (mg/l), max. approx. 60 microbiological conditions may become ppm (mg/l) unsatisfactory.

If levels higher than 200 ppm (mg/l), this may pose a significant health hazard. Bromine-based 1 - 6 ppm (mg/l) When bromine-based disinfectants are used with ozone, the concentration of bromine ion should be monitored and maintained at 15 - 20 ppm (mg/l) at all times. 4 Absent Absent4 <3,000 ppm (mg/l) - ideally 1,500 ppm (mg/l)

disinfectants - sodium and calcium hypochlorite normally require only the acid for pH correction, usually a solution of sodium bisulfate, carbon dioxide or acid. disinfectants - chlorine gas and trichloroisocyanuric acid will normally require the alkali, usually a solution of sodium carbonate (soda ash), to raise pH recommended that operators aim for a free chlorine residual of 1 ppm (mg/l) pool. In a well operated pool it is possible to maintain good water quality with at any single point always below 2 ppm (mg/l). chlorine residuals (0.5 ppm (mg/l) or less) will be required with the additional Higher levels (2-3 ppm (mg/l) may be required for spa and hydrotheraphy pools, higher bathing loads, higher temperatures, which lead to more rapid loss of residual and growth of microorganisms. acid is found in pools if the chlorine source is chlorinated isocyanurate Cyanuric acid is also used as a chlorine stabilizer. pool water is to be diluted with fresh water and one should check the and carry out backwash. This should be repeated until the presence of nitrites eliminated from the pool water. If excess levels are found it is recommended closed until the necessary maintenance is completed. SCHEDULE III MINIMUM POOL WATER TURNOVER PERIODS1

The purpose of giving close attention to the turnover periods is to whole water is adequately served. Treated water must get to all parts of polluted water must be removed, especially from areas most used and by bathers. If not, even good water treatments may not give good pool RECOMMENDED POOL TURNOVER PERIODS

TYPE OF POOL TURNOVER Competition pools 50 m long 3 Conventional pools up to 25 m long with 1 m shallow end 2.5 Diving pools 4 Hydrotheraphy pools 0.5 Leisure water bubble pools 5 -Leisure waters up to 0.5 m deep 10 Leisure waters 0.5 - 1 m deep 0.5 Leisure waters 1 - 1.5 m deep 1 Leisure waters over 1.5 m deep 2 Spas 5 -Teaching/learning/training pools 0.5 Water slide splash pools 0.5

1 This is the theoretical time taken for the total pool water volume to filtration system once. It has been proven that at least 7 complete turnover periods before 99% of the pool water has actually passed through the filters. SCHEDULE IV MAXIMUM BATHING LOAD1 2 maximum bathing load is sometimes defined as 1 bather per 3 m . This gives bathing load for the whole pool, regardless of depth, etc., and must in modified in the light of type of pool. RECOMMENDED BATHING LOADS

TYPE OF POOL MAXIMUM BATHING LOAD FORMULAE (under 1 m) 1 bather per 2.2 m2 2 water (1 - 1.5 m) 1 bather per 2.7 m 2 (over 1.5 m) 1 bather per 4 m load obtained using these formulae is the maximum bathing load of one time, should not be exceeded. If the maximum bathing load is considered that there will be an unacceptable risk of accidents due to collisions, or drowning, etc., and would have a impact on the system to water quality.

design stage of a new pool the following formula is to be used for the the Maximum Design Bathing Load2:

Pool Circulation Rate (in cubic meters per hour) Design Bather Load = 1.7

load is a measure of the number of people in the pool. All pools should identify realistic relationship between bathing numbers and pool and treatment plant

Maximum Design Bathing Load is the number of bathers per Turnover Period that and filtration equipment can successfully support without losing water quality. the pool water will not begin to get cloudy through excessive dirt and debris, Chlorine level and pH value will remain within acceptable limits throughout the

SCHEDULE V DISINFECTANTS AND DISINFECTING SYSTEM FOR SWIMMING

DISINFECTANTS USED DISINFECTANTS USED DISINFECTANTS MOST FREQUENTLY IN LESS FREQUENTLY INFREQUENTLY, LARGE, HEAVILY USED MAINLY FOR 1 POOLS SCALE Chlorine Bromine • Gas • Liquid bromine Bromine chloride • Calcium/sodium • Bromochlorodim-UV hypochlorite ethylhydantoin • Sodium (BCDMH) UV - ozone dichloroisocyanurate • Sodium bromide + Iodine • Electolytic hypochlorite generation Hydrogen peroxide Ozone/chlorine in Silver/copper combination Biguanide Chlorine dioxide Chlorine dioxide/chlorine in combination

1 A variety of disinfectants are used for pool water treatment. Those listed column represent the major usage, especially in public and semi-public pools and heavily used. With the exception of chlorine gas and ozone, these disinfectants routinely used in many small and semi-public pools. Some of these are residual i.e. they persist in water and are present in the water to which pool users are provide increased protection against contamination with infectious agents disinfection and leads to human exposure to the disinfectant itself. Some ozone and UV) are effective at the point of treatment only. Non-residual often used in combination with residual disinfectants.