Evaluation of water quality guidelines for public swimming ponds
Swimming ponds are artificial ecosystems for bathing in which people imitate the conditions of natural waters. Swimming in natural water may pose health risks if the water quality is microbiologically poor. Swimming ponds are small water bodies that may be used by relatively large groups of people,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2020-04-01
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| Series: | Environment International |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019327175 |
| _version_ | 1818310807469948928 |
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| author | Franciska M. Schets Harold H.J.L. van den Berg Gretta Lynch Sharona de Rijk Ana Maria de Roda Husman Jack F. Schijven |
| author_facet | Franciska M. Schets Harold H.J.L. van den Berg Gretta Lynch Sharona de Rijk Ana Maria de Roda Husman Jack F. Schijven |
| author_sort | Franciska M. Schets |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Swimming ponds are artificial ecosystems for bathing in which people imitate the conditions of natural waters. Swimming in natural water may pose health risks if the water quality is microbiologically poor. Swimming ponds are small water bodies that may be used by relatively large groups of people, moreover, the water is not disinfected, e.g. by using chlorine. The draft new swimming pool legislation in the Netherlands includes water quality requirements for swimming ponds. This study focused on the examination and evaluation of the new microbiological water quality requirements, including Escherichia coli, intestinal enterococci, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, in thirteen public swimming pools. In eight of thirteen swimming ponds the water quality met the requirements for fecal indicators; 93–95% of the samples met the requirement for E. coli (≤100/100 ml) and intestinal enterococci (≤50/100 ml). The requirement for P. aeruginosa (≤10/100 ml) was met in eleven of thirteen swimming ponds (99% of the samples). In 68% of the samples the requirement for S. aureus (<1/100 ml) was met. A linear mixed effect analysis showed that E. coli and intestinal enterococci concentrations were significantly dependent on the log10 of turbidity. P. aeruginosa concentrations were significantly dependent on water temperature. 31–45% of the variation between swimming ponds was explained by considering ‘pond’ as a random effect in the analysis. The monitoring of microbiological parameters in swimming pond water needs selective analytical methods, such as those used in this study, due to large numbers of background bacteria. The draft new Dutch swimming pool legislation provides proper guidance to ensure the microbiological safety of swimming pond water; it would benefit from inclusion of turbidity as an extra parameter. S. aureus is a relevant parameter for non-fecal shedding, although scientific literature does not provide evidence for a norm value based on a dose-response relation for exposure to S. aureus in water. Keywords: Swimming pond, Water quality, Microbiology, Guidelines, Legislation |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T07:51:56Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2457061d3afc4c78bc84d5a2d2b879c9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0160-4120 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T07:51:56Z |
| publishDate | 2020-04-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environment International |
| spelling | doaj.art-2457061d3afc4c78bc84d5a2d2b879c92022-12-21T23:54:39ZengElsevierEnvironment International0160-41202020-04-01137Evaluation of water quality guidelines for public swimming pondsFranciska M. Schets0Harold H.J.L. van den Berg1Gretta Lynch2Sharona de Rijk3Ana Maria de Roda Husman4Jack F. Schijven5National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Centre for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, the Netherlands; Corresponding author.National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Centre for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, the NetherlandsNational Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Centre for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, the NetherlandsNational Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Centre for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, the NetherlandsNational Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Centre for Zoonoses and Environmental Microbiology, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, the Netherlands; Utrecht University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicin, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Yalelaan 1, 3584 CL Utrecht, the NetherlandsNational Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Department of Statistics, Informatics and Modelling, P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, the Netherlands; Utrecht University, Department of Earth Sciences, Environmental Hydrogeology Group, Princetonlaan 8a, 3584 CB Utrecht, the NetherlandsSwimming ponds are artificial ecosystems for bathing in which people imitate the conditions of natural waters. Swimming in natural water may pose health risks if the water quality is microbiologically poor. Swimming ponds are small water bodies that may be used by relatively large groups of people, moreover, the water is not disinfected, e.g. by using chlorine. The draft new swimming pool legislation in the Netherlands includes water quality requirements for swimming ponds. This study focused on the examination and evaluation of the new microbiological water quality requirements, including Escherichia coli, intestinal enterococci, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus, in thirteen public swimming pools. In eight of thirteen swimming ponds the water quality met the requirements for fecal indicators; 93–95% of the samples met the requirement for E. coli (≤100/100 ml) and intestinal enterococci (≤50/100 ml). The requirement for P. aeruginosa (≤10/100 ml) was met in eleven of thirteen swimming ponds (99% of the samples). In 68% of the samples the requirement for S. aureus (<1/100 ml) was met. A linear mixed effect analysis showed that E. coli and intestinal enterococci concentrations were significantly dependent on the log10 of turbidity. P. aeruginosa concentrations were significantly dependent on water temperature. 31–45% of the variation between swimming ponds was explained by considering ‘pond’ as a random effect in the analysis. The monitoring of microbiological parameters in swimming pond water needs selective analytical methods, such as those used in this study, due to large numbers of background bacteria. The draft new Dutch swimming pool legislation provides proper guidance to ensure the microbiological safety of swimming pond water; it would benefit from inclusion of turbidity as an extra parameter. S. aureus is a relevant parameter for non-fecal shedding, although scientific literature does not provide evidence for a norm value based on a dose-response relation for exposure to S. aureus in water. Keywords: Swimming pond, Water quality, Microbiology, Guidelines, Legislationhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019327175 |
| spellingShingle | Franciska M. Schets Harold H.J.L. van den Berg Gretta Lynch Sharona de Rijk Ana Maria de Roda Husman Jack F. Schijven Evaluation of water quality guidelines for public swimming ponds Environment International |
| title | Evaluation of water quality guidelines for public swimming ponds |
| title_full | Evaluation of water quality guidelines for public swimming ponds |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of water quality guidelines for public swimming ponds |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of water quality guidelines for public swimming ponds |
| title_short | Evaluation of water quality guidelines for public swimming ponds |
| title_sort | evaluation of water quality guidelines for public swimming ponds |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019327175 |
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