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. The Board 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 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 at 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 Health Code.
Where food is prepared, stored or served at any public bathing place, the provisions of Article
I of this Health Code will apply.