Swimming pool water treatment
Uncontaminated and healthy bathing fun with the right technology
Every year, around 150 million visitors use around 6,000 public and commercial swimming pools in Germany. Sophisticated technology in the background ensures that nothing stands in the way of bathing fun in clear and hygienically perfect swimming pool water.
Without the permanently operating treatment technology, the water would quickly become polluted, as bathers unconsciously carry impurities such as hair and skin cells, textile fibres, cosmetics and sunscreens, saliva, sweat and urine into the water. In addition to these contaminants, pathogens also enter the water and could spread to the other guests without treatment technology. In addition to being polluted by bathers, the bath water is also polluted by the environment. Thus dust and organic material are primarily introduced into the pool by the wind in open-air swimming pools.
Contact
Technical officer - Water department
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Aharon Weiß, M.Sc.
+49 221 270799 13
E-Mail
Treatment processes for swimming and bathing pool water
Several treatment stages are combined to keep the bath water clean and hygienic. The various processes permitted in Germany are described in DIN 19643, which the figawa working group on swimming pool water treatment is involved in actively updating.
An important step in the purification of water is the filtration of the water in a multi-layer filter. In order to filter out smaller particles, flocculants are added before filtration. Another possibility is the use of membranes for filtration.
Dissolved water components are either removed by adsorption to the activated carbon in the filter or destroyed by adding ozone gas. UV irradiation is also used to remove unwanted compounds from the bath water.
Finally, the water is chlorinated for disinfection with depot effect. As an alternative to disinfection with chlorine, the ozone-bromine process according to DIN 19643-5 is also permitted.
To ensure that the treatment technology can function without problems, the relevant standards also describe the basin hydraulics and the measuring and control technology.