Category: Aquatics
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Prepping for swim season & educating your members
Summer is here and everyone wants to cool off at the pool! How have you prepared? Public pools need to protect against and prevent recreational water illness (RWIs), like Cryptosporidium parvum and E.coli. Here is a quick checklist. Clean: Keep pool deck clean of debris and fix cracked tile/concrete. If there is debris in the…
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Case study: Clear Comfort reduces instability of chlorine levels in commercial pools
In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control and prevention reported up to 5,000 emergency room visits associated with pool chemicals. Most patients were under the age of 18. In young swimmers, exposure to excessive chlorine levels in swimming pools is linked to increases in lung tissue damage, asthma and epithelium permeability that allows for toxic…
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Many public pools aren’t up to snuff: CDC report
Just in time for Memorial Day weekend when pools across the nation open to the masses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its annual report on the state of public pools. The CDC found nearly 80 percent of the almost 50,000 aquatics facilities inspected in 2013 had at least one violation, while 1 in…
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Three reasons commercial pools get shut down
Have you ever tried to go swimming and the pool was closed for health reasons? When I was a kid, I remember on many occasions going to the neighborhood pool only to find out that the pool was closed for the rest of the day because the chlorine was too high. As a competitive swimmer,…
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Why the air in indoor pools can trigger asthma and allergies
It’s Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month, meaning no better time to talk about air quality in indoor pool facilities and the effect on swimmers and staff. In simple terms, it’s that pool smell we all recognize the second we walk into an indoor area with a pool, be it a hotel, recreation center, school or…
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Sustainable pools: The higher standard for 2016
The harmful impact of human activity on the environment — from exhaustion of natural resources to global warming to water pollution — means we must live more sustainably to save our planet. Today, sustainable living can be extended to our pools. When something is “sustainable,” by definition, it “conserves an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of…
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Chlorine toxicity in pools: causes, symptoms and solutions
People go to the hospital every year because of exposure to too much chlorine in their pools. Often, chlorine toxicity is the result of an error such as putting too much chlorine in the pool, mixing chlorine with other chemicals, or a chlorination system malfunction.
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Salt Pools: Fact and Fiction
Salt pool systems first hit the New Zealand pool market in 1972 and became popular in the United States in the early 1980s. Saltwater pools had a slow start because of skepticism of the new technology; however, after steady growth, saltwater pools have become popular with many pool builders, service providers and pool owners because…
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National Nutrition Month: The swimmer diet
March is National Nutrition Month! As a dietitian and a swim coach, I strive to bring awareness to all swimmers about the importance of a healthy diet. Swimming can burn between 400-700 calories/hour depending on the swimmer’s body weight. Many competitive swimmers think since they burn so many calories while swimming that they can eat…