Recreational Water Illnesses

Protecting swimmers and their families from RWIs is the reason that pool staff regularly check both chlorine and pH levels. Chlorine and pH, your disinfection team, are the first defense against germs that can make swimmers sick.

Chlorine kills germs in pools — but it takes time to work. Therefore, it’s important to make sure chlorine levels are always at the levels recommended by the health department (usually between 1.0 – 3.0 ppm).

All sorts of things can reduce chlorine levels in pool water. Some examples are sunlight, dirt, debris, skin, and fecal matter from swimmer’s bodies. That’s why chlorine levels must be routinely measured. However, the time it takes for chlorine to work is also affected by the other member of the disinfection team, pH.

Two reasons: First, the germ-killing power of chlorine varies with pH level. As pH goes up, the ability of chlorine to kill germs goes down. Second, a swimmer’s body has a pH between 7.2 and 7.8, so if the pool water isn’t kept in this range then swimmers will start to feel irritation of their eyes and skin. Keeping the pH in this range will balance chlorine’s germ-killing power while minimizing skin and eye irritation.

The best way to kill germs is by routinely measuring and adjusting both chlorine and pH levels. Since a few germs can survive for long periods in even the best-maintained pools, it is also important that swimmers become aware of Healthy Swimming behaviors (don’t swim when ill with diarrhea, don’t swallow pool water, take frequent bathroom breaks, and practice good hygiene). Combining Healthy Swimming behaviors with good chlorine and pH control will reduce the spread of RWIs.

1.  PLEASE don’t swim when you have diarrhea. You can spread germs in the water and make other people sick.
2.  PLEASE don’t swallow pool water. Avoid getting water in your mouth.
3.  PLEASE practice good hygiene. Shower with soap before swimming and wash your hands after using the toilet or changing diapers. Germs on your body end up in the water.

1.  PLEASE take your kids on bathroom breaks or check diapers often. Waiting to hear “I have to go” may mean that it’s too late.
2.  PLEASE change diapers in a bathroom or a diaper-changing area and not at poolside. Germs can be spread in and around the pool.
3.  PLEASE wash your child thoroughly (especially the rear end) with soap and water before they go swimming. Invisible amounts of fecal matter can end up in the pool.