As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
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.
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.
The person responsible for the operation of a 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.
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.
A.
Every person who constructs or installs or intends to construct or
install or who desires to extend, alter or modify a public bathing
place shall have plans and specifications for such construction, installation,
alteration, extension or modification approved in writing by the Pennsylvania
Department of Health and the Health Officer before beginning the work
or before permitting the work to be started by a contractor or any
employee.
B.
The application for approval of plans required by the Health Officer
shall contain complete plans and specifications fully describing the
public bathing place or extension, alteration or change contemplated
in the application and shall be made on forms provided by the Health
Officer.
C.
The approval issued in response to the application shall contain
such terms and conditions as may be required by the Health Officer
to ensure compliance with the provisions of this chapter.
A.
Every person owning, managing or maintaining a public bathing place
shall obtain a permit from the Board or Health Officer. Applications
for permits to operate a public bathing place shall be on forms provided
by the Board, which application shall set forth the name, residence,
business address and telephone number of the applicant, the location
of the public bathing place, the name and address of the operator
of the public bathing place and any additional information which the
Board may require to enable it to determine whether the provisions
of the chapter are being complied with. The application is also to
be accompanied by plans showing details of the pool and facilities.
B.
Each applicant at the time of applying for a permit to operate a
public bathing place shall pay an annual inspection fee as set from
time to time by resolution of the Borough Council.
C.
Such person shall post the permit in a place accessible to patrons
in the principal office of the public bathing place or in the entryway
or in any other conspicuous place approved by the Health Officer.
D.
The holder of a permit to operate a public bathing place shall be
held responsible for compliance with all the provisions of this chapter
on and within the premises operated under such a permit.
E.
If it is found that the provisions of this chapter are not being
complied with or that any condition exists which in the opinion of
the Board or Health Officer endangers the life, safety or health of
the users of any public bathing place, the Board or Health Officer
may revoke the operator's permit.
A.
All public bathing places shall be in the charge of a capable manager or caretaker who shall be responsible for the proper maintenance and use of the public bathing place as provided in Article VII of this chapter. He/she shall be responsible for maintaining the public bathing place continually in a clean, sanitary and healthful manner so that it will not constitute or be a menace to public health, promote immorality or be a public nuisance. A copy of the rules and regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Health as well as the certificate of public bathing place issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Health shall be posted conspicuously at the public bathing place for the information of the public.
B.
One or more competent lifeguards in adequate number shall be on duty
at the waterside at all times during which the public bathing place
is open to use by bathers and shall not be assigned other tasks that
will divert their attention from the safety of the bathers. These
lifeguards shall be capable swimmers, skilled in lifesaving methods
and in methods of artificial resuscitation, as evidenced by their
possession of a currently valid certificate or other proof of proficiency
from a recognized agency offering instructions in these fields.
C.
Every public bathing place shall be provided with buoys, poles, flutterboards
or other lifesaving equipment which shall be kept in good repair and
readily accessible.
A.
The Health Officer shall collect or cause to be collected and shall analyze or have analyzed, in an approved laboratory, such samples of water, pool water or any other material or substance found on the public bathing place premises as may be necessary to determine compliance with the standards and requirements of Article VII of this chapter.
B.
Public bathing places shall be open at all reasonable times to inspection
by the Health Officer.
A.
It shall be the duty of every permit holder and of every employee
of a person holding a permit to operate a public bathing place to
furnish such records and information as are required by the Health
Officer for ascertaining compliance with the provisions of this chapter.
B.
Such records shall include but are not limited to periodic reports
and records of the operation, including records of chemicals added,
filter operation, cleaning, bathing load, equipment, operation, free
chlorine residual and attendance.
A.
Water. Water supply shall be furnished from a public water system and shall comply with the provisions established under Article IV of this chapter.
C.
Waste. All sewage and liquid waste, including pool wastewater, shall
be discharged into a sanitary sewer of the Borough. Permission for
discharge of the pool wastewater must be obtained from the Borough
prior to its discharge. If a sanitary sewer is not available, all
sewage must be discharged in accordance with applicable law. All pool
wastewater may be discharged to a natural drainage course or storm
drain if the wastes are afforded quiescent settling for at least one
hour.
D.
Location. No public bathing place shall be so located as to be within
prejudicial influence of the discharge of sewage or of injurious or
objectionable industrial wastes. The location shall be such that by
its use it will not prejudicially affect a public water supply.
E.
Public bathing places shall have separate dressing rooms for each
sex and facilities for checking clothes and other property which are
adequate for the maximum number of persons who can be accommodated
at any one time.
A.
Adequate and separate toilet facilities for each sex shall be provided
at all bathhouses. The minimum shall be one toilet and one urinal
for each 60 men and one toilet for each 40 women. Flush toilets and
urinals shall be provided and shall be properly maintained. The toilets
shall be located between the dressing rooms and showers.
B.
The toilet shall be kept clean, in good repair, well lighted and
properly ventilated by exterior windows or other mechanical means.
The floors shall be constructed of material impervious to water and
shall be provided with a sanitary base and with adequate and sufficient
drains to permit cleaning. The use of linoleum or similar floor coverings
is prohibited. The walls and ceilings shall be of a smooth, washable
surface and shall be finished in a light color. Doors to entrances
of toilet rooms shall be self-closing. All openings to the outside
shall be effectively screened or otherwise protected during periods
when flies are prevalent.
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.
A.
A complete system of artificial lighting shall be provided for all
pools, bathing beaches, bathhouses and dressing rooms that are to
be used at night. Lighting fixtures shall be of such number and design
as to light all parts of the swimming pool and the water therein.
B.
The electrical installations at all public bathing places and any
future additions or modifications to such installations, prior to
being placed in service and every five years thereafter, shall be
inspected and approved by a reputable electrical inspection agency
and evidence, in duplicate, of such approval by this agency forwarded
to the Board or Health Officer.
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.
