LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Lincoln City Council members are considering a measure that would require training, testing and certification of anyone who checks public swimming pools for quality standards.
Last year the city had to close 133 pools during inspections because the water didn’t meet quality standards, the Lincoln Journal Star said (https://bit.ly/Orvtce ).
Inspectors find quality issues that require immediate closure 20 to 25 percent of the time, said Scott Holmes, Environmental Public Health Division manager for the local health department.
“That shouldn’t be happening,” he said.
Inspectors think that people doing the testing often don’t do it correctly or don’t know what to do when a problem surfaces.
Ensuring that pool water is properly treated reduces the chances the water will transmit skin, eye or gastrointestinal diseases, he said.
The City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing Monday on the proposed changes in pool regulations. The rules cover the city’s 225 public pools, including motel and apartment pools, spray parks and spas. The rules do not apply to private, backyard pools.
Under the proposal, only certified pool operators and pool testers would be allowed to perform water quality checks, generally required every four hours on public pools.
Both operators and testers will take a class that lasts less than an hour and be tested to ensure they know how to use testing kits.
“It’s like a chemistry test,” Holmes said. “You have to add the correct number of drops. You have to swirl and not shake.”
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, https://www.journalstar.com
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