FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2006
Friday Edition: Swimming-Pool Inspections
Lots of newspapers
and TV stations report restaurant inspection scores. During the
summertime, it can be interesting to look at the gross and even
unhealthy things that swimming-pool inspectors from your health
department find.
It may be easier than you think to find the scores. In Birmingham, Ala., for example, they are listed online -- everything from lap pools to club spas. Same goes for Johnson County, in Kansas.
A Centers for Disease Control & Prevention report says
swimming is the second most popular exercise activity in the United
States (a claim that I find hard to believe). When CDC researchers
conducted a national study of pool inspections in selected cities and
states back in 2002, they found that more than half of the pools
inspected had violated health and safety rules. More than 8 percent of
the violations were serious
enough to close the pool in question. More than a third of the
violations had to do
with chemicals, and another third dealt with filtration and
circulation.
The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel
has looked at this issue a couple of times over the years. The paper always
finds the same thing: tons of problems. Inspectors, they find, are always shaking their
heads at the fact that so many pools have insufficient chemicals to control
bacteria and other "ick" in the water.
The paper reported last year:
An Orlando Sentinel
check of 4,465 inspections of Central Florida pools this year found
that at least one in eight failed tests for chlorine, meaning they
could pose a health risk for swimmers who use them.
That's
similar to the findings of a federal study of 22,131 pool inspections,
most of them in Florida, three years ago. Both reviews, as well as a
check of more than 4,000 pools by the Sentinel in 2001, found that pools failing tests for chlorine were most commonly found at hotels and apartment complexes.
Despite
stepped-up efforts by health authorities this decade to call attention
to the risks of pool-borne illnesses, pool inspectors continue to see
lax attitudes and poor training among the people responsible for
maintaining water quality in pools used by thousands of local residents
and tourists every day.
"It's really frustrating," said Tim Carroll, a three-year inspector in Orange County
who said he tries to educate and encourage pool owners. "They don't
want to take five minutes [a day] to do it. There's really no excuse."
Bart Bibler, bureau chief of state Health Department water programs in Tallahassee,
said his agency would like to see the violation rate decline but is
nearly overwhelmed by the twice-annual inspections of more than 33,000
pools and spas statewide.
This year's Sentinel survey
found chlorine violations at mobile-home parks in Lake County; hotels
and motels along U.S. Highway 192 in Osceola County; apartment and
condo complexes in Seminole County; beachside motels and resorts in
Volusia; and at subdivisions, apartments and condos in Orange
County.
Here is some information about safe pool treatment from the Chlorine Chemical Council. The
World Health Organization also has a Web page dedicated to what it calls "
recreational waters," which include swimming pools.
Lowe's, the home-improvement store, has
a how-to guide on caring for swimming pools -- including a section on maintaining appropriate chemical levels.
For a little more background on the chemicals used, check out
a Web site called The Science Center -- officially aimed at teachers -- that
explains calcium hypochlorite and its role in disinfecting your swimming pool.
Swimming and Illness
Make no mistake about it, swimming-pool "ick" can be serious stuff. Look at this, from the CDC:
When people swim in
pools, water parks, spas, hot tubs, lakes, rivers and the ocean, they
share the same water. If someone is ill, he or she can contaminate the
water for everyone who is swimming. Contaminated recreational water can
cause a variety of illnesses such as diarrhea or skin, ear, eye and
upper respiratory infections. Kids who wear diapers are just learning
to control their bowels and are more prone to contaminate the water.
These young kids are more likely to have fecal accidents and, if they
are ill with diarrhea, the germs in their stool can contaminate the
pool. Once the pool is contaminated, patrons may accidentally swallow
the fecally contaminated water, which could make them ill. In addition,
some germs such as Crypto (short for Cryptosporidium) may take days to be killed by chlorine, increasing the risk of spreading illness.
Why should pool owners and staff think about illnesses spread through the water?
The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been gathering information
from State health authorities on recreational water illness (RWI)
outbreaks in the United States since 1978. Diarrhea, which is currently
the most frequently reported symptom, is caused by germs such as Crypto
(short for Cryptosporidium), E. coli O157:H7 (E. coli),
Giardia, and Shigella. Since 1985, the number of outbreaks of diarrhea
connected with swimming pools is on the increase. Some of these
outbreaks have affected thousands of swimmers. Much of the diarrheal
illness reported to health officials, such as that caused by Crypto,
happens during the summer swim season. CDC information from the past
few years shows that Crypto is the major germ that causes outbreaks in
swimming pools and water parks, where its high chlorine resistance and
small size make it a difficult problem for even the best-equipped and
well-maintained pools. E. coli is sensitive to chlorine so most
outbreaks have occurred in locations where no chlorine is added, such
as lakes. E. coli outbreaks appear to be a rare occurrence in
chlorinated pools with only two having been reported.
Approximately 10
diarrheal outbreaks linked to swimming pools are reported each year and
each one can potentially cause hundreds to thousands of people to
become ill. However, pool staff need to keep in mind that most
diarrheal illnesses are not reported to health care providers and
health officials. This means that the number of outbreaks reported is
probably only the tip of the iceberg. Because fewer than 10 percent of people
with diarrhea ever go to see a health care provider, public health
officials never hear about most cases of illness. Therefore, illness
prevention should be a part of every swimming safety program just like
the prevention of drowning, injuries, and sunburn.
The
Medical College of Wisconsin also has some information about
swimming and waterborne diseases. The Illinois Department of Public Health also has a page dedicated to
food- and waterborne illnesses. So do the
Kitsap County Health District, located in Bremerton, Wash. and the
Florida Department of Health.
How Some Camping Photos Ended in Child Porn Accusations
Here is a cautionary taleto
keep in mind before you go camping and snap those adorable pictures of
your toddler skinny-dipping. The "photo police" are watching, and,
ultimately, they could take your kids.
What Bloggers Blog About
A new Pew study reports on what bloggers are writing about. Most of it is personal stuff.
Governments Pushing Wi-Fi
Governing
magazine pulled together this collection of articles to help get you thinking about the
story of local governments trying to spead Wi-Fi -- but it has not been a
smooth ride for them.
Miami-Dade
officials want to provide affordable wireless Internet access across
the entire county. But it's an expensive and untested technology, an
expert warned county officials. Daniel Aghion, executive director of
the Boston-based Wireless Internet Institute, said few cities have
actually deployed the networks and that a lot of the experiments "will
probably not go as planned." [From The Miami Herald]
In Washington, D.C., the metropolitan-area transit agency plans to
grant companies the right to install wireless Internet access at bus
stops and in tunnels, recouping their investments by charging for
services or selling online ads while sharing revenues with the transit
agency. [From Washington Business Journal]
Philadelphia officials defend Chief Information Officer Dianah Neff's
acceptance of trips to conferences indirectly paid for by existing and
potential city wireless vendors, saying the trips benefit the city and
conform to ethics rules. [From The Philadelphia Inquirer]
Strategies for building municipal wireless networks are evolving fast. But are they prudent in the long run? [From Governing]
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas,
edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites,
as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes
directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be
provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends
upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors
and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Posted at 12:24:58 AM
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