Fecal contamination puts damper on pool time
Matter found in reopened Henderson facility
Swimming in one of Lethbridge’s many public pools is a popular attraction in the summertime for a way to cool off and enjoy the warm weather.
The recently-refurbished Henderson Pool has seen an influx in users of the facility but has also seen an increase in fecal contamination in the waters.
Alberta Health Services and the City of Lethbridge Recreation Department are warning and reminding people about the serious concerns that come from fecal contaminations within a pool.
“Contamination in the pool can be from any bodily fluids, vomit, urine, blood, and the most concerning is the fecal incidents,” says Dr. Vivien Suttorp, Lead Medical Officer of South Zone for Alberta Health Services.
“One particular illness we worry about in pools with fecal contamination is cryptosporidium, which can cause a really watery diarrhea and can sometimes last 30 days. There are even deaths in some cases from crypto.”
The fecal decontamination process a pool must undergo, from the guidelines of AHS, can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 24 hours to clean. If crypto is found in the contaminated water, the pool could be closed for upwards of a month.
“Crypto is a hardy organism that can last in moist environments for weeks and months so at those situations pools may be closed for days, weeks or even a month at a time,” says Suttorp. “When people get exposed to this, it can be a couple days all the way up to 12 days before people will have symptoms of crypto.”
The closure of a pool not only has a negative impact on the people who are using the facility and have to leave or wait disappointed, but the closure take an impact on the business and staff working.
“The main impact is the risk of illness to people,” says Brad Pack, general manager with Recreation at the City of Lethbridge. “There is that inconvenience to all of the people that come to the pool because they have to get out and especially wait or go home, and then we have the lost revenue if it is closed for 24 hours or more and we have staff that lose the ability to work and city staff put in for doing the maintenance.”
Pack says that on a hot summer day in Lethbridge, a 24-hour closure of a pool as popular as Henderson Pool could cost the city around $10,000 in lost revenue. The City recently purchased $2,500 worth of plastic pants for children, elders and others to use to prevent a possible contamination.
“Our new protocol is that people need to be in a swim pant and a plastic pant that needs to be elastic at the waste and legs in an attempt to keep to contaminants in and take it out of the pool,” says Pack. “All of our staff is currently educating the public. We have pamphlets at the front when we do ground checks we go around and they talk to parents of kids and say take regular bathroom breaks.”
With only one 24-hour closure so far this summer, the City is reminding people to take the proper precautions when visiting a public pool because a serious contamination could result in a closure for the summer.
AHS advises people to not go to a public swimming pool if they have had diarrhea within the last two weeks since bacteria and organisms could still be living in the poop. Take a shower before entering the pool because everyone has fecal matter living on them and washing it away is a good preventative measure for spreading diseases.
Parents are reminded to make sure their kids take frequent breaks to go to the washroom, apply sun screen and get rehydrated. Children tend to get distracted by the fun they are having at the pool, and parents are asked to make their kids take frequent breaks to prevent an early end to a summer day and to prevent the spread of serious illnesses in the community.