CHEMICALS OF CONCERN IN RECREATIONAL WATERS OCCURRENCE AND ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL HUMAN HEALTH RISKS OF CHEMICALS IN PUBLIC SWIMMING POOLS.

During the summer months, thousands of South Africans head to municipal and holiday resort swimming pools to cool off. By far, drowning is the most common risk associated with swimming, but it is also the most preventable by installed pool safety fences and covers limiting unsupervised pool access. Apart from dangers associated with drowning, swimming pool water, if not well managed, may act as a medium for exposure to harmful pathogens and chemicals. The World Health Organisation (WHO) Guidelines for safe recreational water environments (Volume 2: Swimming pools and similar environments) (WHO, 2006) provide guidance on the management of risks related to swimming pools, as well as broad perspective on water quality health risks. In South Africa, the quality of public swimming pool water has to meet the South African National Standards (SANS) 241 for drinking water of 2015 as was stipulated by Notice 943 of 2013 (Government Gazette, 2013). However, current practice shows that public swimming pools are largely managed only to protect the bather from pathogens that might have been introduced by bathers themselves. The focus of this study was to investigate the presence of selected chemical compounds of concern in public swimming pools and evaluate the potential risks due to exposure during swimming. The quality of the water depends on the quality of the management of the pool water. The biggest concern of most managers is to make sure that the microbial parameters are met, with very little concern for the chemical constituents of the pool water. Numerous research reports have shown that pool water may contain a wide variety of chemicals of concern that may originate from the source of the water, i.e. borehole or tap water provided by the municipality (treated river water), and those that can be formed due to addition of treatment chemicals into the pool water. For example, while the addition of disinfecting chemicals (e.g. chlorine) may inhibit the presence and proliferation of pathogens, they may also contribute to the formation of potentially harmful by-products. And a third source of chemicals introduced to the pool water is the bathers themselves. Apart from the personal care products that wash off their bodies, the bodily excretions such as urine and sweat can contribute to the presence of toxic organic compounds, as well as pharmaceuticals and their partially metabolised versions thereof.