Swimming pool sanitation

Swimming pool sanitation controls disease-causing microorganisms and algae through disinfectants, filtration, and other water treatments. It maintains water that is safe and suitable for swimming.

Chlorination: The use of chlorine compounds to disinfect water and oxidize contaminants. Chlorine is the most widely used pool disinfectant and can leave a protective residual in the water.
Bromination: The use of bromine compounds to disinfect water, especially in heated pools and spas. Bromine offers an alternative to chlorine where warm water and indoor conditions favor its use.
Cryptosporidium: A genus of protozoan parasites that can cause diarrheal illness and resist ordinary chlorine levels. Its chlorine tolerance makes it a difficult pool pathogen to control during contamination events.
Swimming pool circulation: The movement of pool water through pumps, piping, and treatment equipment and back into the pool. Circulation distributes disinfectant and carries contaminants to filters and treatment devices.
Free chlorine: The chlorine in water available to disinfect, chiefly as hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite ions. Its concentration indicates how much active chlorine remains available to control microbes.
Ultraviolet germicidal irradiation: The use of ultraviolet light to inactivate microorganisms by damaging their genetic material. UV systems can reduce chlorine-resistant pathogens and chloramines, but provide no lasting disinfectant residual.
Chloramines: Compounds formed when chlorine reacts with ammonia or other nitrogen-containing substances. They can irritate swimmers and signal that chlorine has reacted with contaminants.
Swimming pool coagulation: The addition of chemicals that destabilize fine suspended particles so they can be removed more readily. Coagulation improves particle removal but is not itself a microbial disinfectant.
Cyanuric acid: A chlorine stabilizer that reduces chlorine loss from sunlight in outdoor pools. It protects outdoor pool chlorine from ultraviolet degradation, but excessive levels can weaken disinfection.
Ozone water treatment: The use of ozone gas as a powerful oxidant and disinfectant in water treatment. Pool ozone can oxidize contaminants and inactivate microbes, but must be paired with a residual disinfectant.

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