On any given day at an Australian swim school, you can observe aspect similar to this.
- Swim school opens in the morning.
- Pool water treatment plant process completed successfully overnight.
- Some aspects of pool water quality are measured (mostly incomplete), and all looks okay.
- First class arrives, kids, parents and teachers get in the water, no cause for concern.
- If water quality is measured continuously either manually or automated, chemical dosing tends to me adjusted, relative to the measures received to try an maintain water quality within set bandwiths.
- Towards the end of the day, the bather load may amount to over 200 children and adults whom have been through the pool, all adding to the total dissolved solids in the water.
- By the late afternoon, the volumes of chlorine tend to be at their highest of the day, to compensate for the water treatment plant not keeping up with a bather load for which it was not adequately designed.
- Visitors to such a swim school in the afternoon, can easily discern ‘that smell’ which is a tell tale sign that the pool poses an unacceptable risk to the health and safety of swimmers, especially pre-school children with developing immune systems.
The knowledge that the pool wasn’t built to a design standard, which would have guaranteed the water treatment plant to be fit for purpose, is concerning. The knowledge that no regulatory oversight exists to ensure measurements are taken in accordance with a standard, by adequately qualified personnel, is concerning. The knowledge that the only formally notifiable disease is cryptosporidium, which is resistant to chlorine, and which is normally diagnosed too long after the incident occuring, is concerning.
The list goes on…
When you are next near a swim school on a late afternoon, walk in and smell for yourself.