Do public swimming pools meet health standards?
End of the year pool parties are in full swing on the Central Coast, but before swimmers think about jumping in, they might want to double check where that community pool ranks in health safety.
The Centers for Disease Control reports that one-in-eight of the pools it checked had to be shut down for not meeting health safety standards.
There are about 370 public pools in Santa Cruz County and 14 had to close down just this year.
“It’s scary because my kids are really, really, into swimming and want to be on the swim team like I was growing up, so I’m hoping that with this news coming out, that the pools will start being cleaner,” said Santa Cruz resident, Gabrielle Korte.
The Simpkins Family Swim Center said the County has never shut them down, all thanks to the chemical storage area where they keep a machine that disperses more than 100 gallons of chlorine a day, but the staff said it’s not worried about the pool equipment.
“I’ve seen mothers change their diapers, baby’s diapers and wash the babies in the pool and when you get feces in the pool you have to take proper precautions,” said pool maintenance supervisor, Al Galvan.
In those situations, maintenance staff said the pool would be temporarily shut down until cleaned, and proper ph levels checked. There are also a few warning signs that you can look for. If the water looks murky don’t get in.
Just last year, Gonzales Pool in Monterey County had to shut down for not meeting health regulations. According to the CDC, there are certain parasites that chlorine or other chemicals can’t kill. Environmental health specialists for Santa Cruz County said they keep a close watch for any parasites during their multiple pool checks each year.
“In my experience I haven’t had a Crypto outbreak that I’ve been aware of. It can happen with Crypto. Typical signs with Crypto are diarrhea,” said environmental health specialist, Olga Zuniga.
The best way for swimmers to protect themselves from getting sick is to rinse off before and after swimming. Swimmers should always wash hands before they eat. Otherwise a safe pool party could be going down the tubes.
