As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
CLEAN WATER
New, clean water used to refill the pool, new, clean water
used to replace loss by splashing or during cleaning of the pool or
water taken from the pool and returned after filtration or any combination
of such waters.
NATURAL BATHING PLACE
Any natural pond, river or lake without bathing place improvements
and any lake or body of water created by excavation or impoundment
which is without bathing place improvements and which has not been
created or altered from the natural state for the purpose of providing
a public bathing place.
OPERATOR
The person responsible for the operation of a public bathing
place.
PUBLIC BATHING PLACE
Any body of water used collectively by numbers of persons,
other than the family and guests of the operator, for swimming and
recreational bathing, together with the shores, buildings, equipment
and appurtenances pertaining to such public bathing place. This term
does not include baths where the main object is the cleansing of the
body or the practice of healing under medical supervision, unless
such baths contain pools or tanks used collectively by a number of
individuals.
STANDARD METHODS OF WATER ANALYSIS
All applicable procedures and methods recorded in the latest
issue of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Sewage
published by the American Public Health Association and the American
Water Works Association.
Lavatories shall be located adjacent to the toilet facilities
and shall be provided in the number of one lavatory to each 60 persons
using the pool at the time of maximum load.
A. The common use of drinking cups, towels, hairbrushes or other toilet
articles is prohibited.
B. Towels, bathing suits, combs, brushes and all other such articles
furnished by the management shall be clean at the time of issue to
a patron and shall have been cleansed and sterilized in a manner acceptable
to the Health Officer prior to such issuance.
C. All parts of the premises shall be adequately clean, safe and maintained
in a sanitary manner at all times of use and while the public bathing
place is open for use.
D. Persons known to be typhoid fever carriers or known to be or suspected
of being afflicted with communicable diseases or eye, ear, nose or
throat infections or skin diseases shall be excluded from public bathing
places.
The chemical and physical quality of the water shall be as prescribed
in the recommendations of the American Public Health Association's
current edition of Recommended Practice for Design, Equipment and
Operation of Swimming Pools and Other Bathing Places. Permits shall
be suspended automatically if the following minimum requirements are
not complied with:
A. The water used at all public bathing places, including natural public
bathing places, shall at all times have a chemical content and quality
acceptable to the Board or Health Officer. The Board or Health Officer
will determine what purification processes, if any, are needed to
accomplish this end. When filtration equipment is provided or required,
such equipment shall operate at a rate of filtration not to exceed
three gallons per square foot per minute with an eight-hour turnover
and a wash rate of 12 gallons to 15 gallons per square foot per minute
provided.
B. Approved and effective disinfection is required of the water in all
public bathing places. Whenever liquid chlorine, sodium or calcium
hypochlorite or other approved chlorine compounds are used for swimming
pool disinfection, the amount of available free chlorine residual
in the water at all times when the pool is in use shall not be less
than 0.4 part per million.
C. Where gas chlorination equipment is installed at either outdoor or
indoor pools, such equipment shall be housed in a separate room equipped
with an exhaust fan to reduce to a practical minimum the opportunity
of gas leakage into other rooms or areas where persons gather.
D. The water at all times when the pool is in use shall show an alkaline
reaction that has a pH value of 7.0 or more.
E. At all times when the pool is in use, the water shall be sufficiently
clear to permit a black disc six inches in diameter in a white field,
when placed on the bottom of the pool at the deepest point, to be
clearly visible from the sidewalk of the pool at all distances up
to 10 yards measured from a line drawn across the pool through said
disc.
F. The water in any indoor pool shall be heated to a temperature of
68° to 72° F. The temperature of the air surrounding an artificially
heated swimming pool shall not be permitted to become more than 8°
F. warmer nor more than 2° F. cooler than the water in the pool
at any time when the pool is in use.
G. Not more than 10% of consecutive representative samples taken on
different days over a period of time shall contain more than 100 bacteria
per cubic centimeter of water according to a bacteria count on standard
nutrient agar made after 24 hours' incubation at 37° C. No
single sample shall contain more than 200 bacteria per cubic centimeter
of water.
H. No more than two out of five samples collected on the same day nor
more than three out of 10 consecutive samples collected on different
days shall show a positive presumptive test for B. coli in ten-cubic-centimeter
portions.
I. Samples collected from public bathing places shall be examined in
accordance with the latest edition of Standard Methods of Water Analysis
of the American Public Health Association by a laboratory, approved
by the Board, equipped for carrying out the techniques specified.
J. The management of any public bathing place shall make or cause to
be made such physical, chemical and bacteriological examinations of
the water at no less than weekly intervals as may be prescribed by
the Board and shall keep records of the operation and use thereof
on forms satisfactory to the Board. Copies of such records shall be
filed in the office of the Board in accordance with the conditions
of the permit.
The construction and equipment of the pool shall meet the standards
set forth by the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the operation
and maintenance of all public bathing places and shall be such as
to reduce to a practical minimum the danger or injury to persons from
drowning, falls, collisions, fires, nuisances or a hazard of any kind.
Wading pools shall be operated as a public bathing place and shall be subject to all of the standards and requirements for public bathing places as public bathing places in Article
VII of this chapter.
Where food is prepared, stored or served at any public bathing place, the provisions of Article
I of this chapter will apply.