Swimming Pool

Health & Safety for the Public and our Environment

There are many products supplied to the UK and European swimming pool industry that either do not work or can be considered very dangerous, especially when combined with other products.  There are also situations where low cost products are used that do not have the same performance, or procedures are used to try and save costs.  A classic example is running filters at a high flow rate, you may half the capital cost of the equipment but you increase running costs by approximately 30% in terms of energy, chemicals and water consumption.   Pools must comply with HSE (Health & Safety Executive) exposure limits for chemicals in the water and the air.  Pools must also comply with the Helsinki Convention on Water and Health.  We now face a situation where many pools (estimated at 90%) may not in compliance with statutory legal upper exposure limits because  they have a deficient water treatment system.  The situation is particularly poor and critical in the UK, because there is no product certification, there are no formal standards and there is no monitoring or control of the industry.   This situation is placing the public and pool staff at risk and is costing the industry an estimated 0.25 billion each year in the UK.  Dryden Aqua has now registered a report to the UK Health & Safety Executive and European Commission on these issues.

In order to more accurately quantify the issues and develop a sampling regime Dryden Aqua are heading up a Research Team  (click here for details).   Standards are now being developed and we can confirm that most pools with a Performance Factor under 4 should be in compliance.   Dryden Aqua can now provide training in association with the leading public pool organisation in the UK, Swimming pool Teachers Association www.sta.co.uk and in parallel DrydenAqua have developed an  Integrated approach to Water Treatment . It is a legal requirement to comply with HSE upper exposure limits, but the key parameters are not being monitored and as such the regulations are not as yet being applied. 

In order to avoid non compliance to legal standards and to mitigate health and safety risks,   Dryden Aqua have identified and list below, examples of processes, chemicals and products that should be avoided.

Chemical Thermal Blanket

The product prevents flocculation and coagulation reactions working properly which prevents the filters from working. Concentrations of chlorine reaction product, exotoxins and endotoxins will be much higher.  There is also a risk that the sand filters will dump high levels of bacteria back into the water.  If you see cloudy water, get out of the pool  It is likely to be bacterial toxins. Dead bacteria and bits of bacteria cell wall are almost as dangerous as living bacteria, but they are not monitored in public pools.

Bromine

Bromine displaces iodine from the body and seriously disrupts endocrine  (hormone) system, it is also carcinogenic and implicated in renal tumours. While chlorine is also toxic  it does not displace iodine from your thyroid gland,  bromine is perhaps an order of magnitude higher on the toxicity scale and should not be considered for pools or Spas.

Chemical impurities and contamination

It is an accepted belief that products used for swimming pools do not need to be of as high a quality as products used for drinking water. This is completely wrong,  the quality of swimming pool water must be much better than drinking water because most of the toxic chemicals are volatile dissolved gases. When you breath in a chemical, there are 70 square meters of lung surface area available to absorb the chemical.  If you were to consume the chemical it is still not good but most toxic chemicals will be bound up in organic matter and will pass through your body,  this is not the case when you breath in a toxic gas.  Next time you use your flocculent,  if it smells like disinfectant (TCP)  it is probably due to high levels of phenols because many pool products are made from chemical waste. Phenols are poisonous and carcinogenic.   Products used for Pool Water Treatment must be certified and they must be of a higher quality than drinking water products because any volatile chemical in the water will  be absorbed through your lungs.

UVc irradiation

The equipment eliminates trichloramines but chlorine consumption will double and you form a higher concentration of volatile extremely toxic chlorine reaction products such as cyanogen chloride.  Sun-light will also photo reduce chlorine and form THM`s and cyanogen chloride, this is why cyanuric acid is often used in out-door pools, but cyanuric acid acts as a food source for bacteria which means you end up using more chlorine. To avoid the problem use ACP for out-door pools  . We do not advocate the use of UV irradiation of chlorinated water, however ACP reduces the side effects of the UV irradiation of chlorinated water.

Crushed Glass

There have been several major public health issues regarding companies passing off crushed glass as equivalent to AFM, please be advised that AFM and crushed glass  are completely different and should not be confused.  AFM is a registered Trade Mark and has been through a major research and development project  with the European Commission and the UK Government authorities and has been tested for almost 20 years. AFM is  certified under Regulation 31 of the UK Drinking Water inspectorate, AFM is compliance with European Water Directive (98/83/EC) & (80/778/EEC) and is manufactured under ISO9001-2008 quality  in accordance to and certified to BSEN12902 and BSEN 12904.  Dryden Aqua provide a crushed glass product called WormAway as a soil conditioner to kill worms on airports,   however if we were to offer crushed glass we would be in breach of the Helsinki Convention on Water and Health of which swimming pools are included and the UK is a signatory.

If it's not AFM it's not activated or safe to use and this is why   AFM  crushed glass AFM®   is manufactured by Dryden Aqua and the process is certified under ISO9000 : 2008 to insure a quality product X hypodermic needles, biohazard and toxic chemical risk,  (not a risk concern with AFM) X Drinking water approval full certification checked by WRC-NSF X Surface activation gives AFM®   a high zeta potential and redox potential, greatly enhances performance X AFM®   rejects bacterial growth and activation process makes it self sterilizing X Activation removes micron and sub micron particles as well as organics that make up 80% of the loading swimming pool systems X The leading manufactured filter media for the swimming pool industry in Europe X Risk Analysis conduct by one of Europe's largest independent water consultant organisations  ENTEC report concludes AFM®   is safest media X 15 years track record 100% success in pools & spas X Backed by 1.2 million Euro  research program  with European Commission and water companies Protected by Dryden Aqua Patent and backed by our continuing product improvement by Research & Development X X   Filter media Type Risk Associated with filter media scale 0 (best) to 4 (worst) Risk Score   Risk to the supplier or the installer Risk to the public Risk to the public if filter laterals fail     Dust / silicosis / cancer Water quality, disease and parasitic infection air quality, respiratory disease building structure, stress corrosion cracking Eye damage, ingestion, abrasion contamination issues & toxins or human pathogens   AFM®   1 0 1 1 0 3 0 5 crushed glass2 1 3 3 3 5  3 18 good quality sand3 2 2 2 2 2 1 11 economy sand4 3 4 3 3 2 2 17 zeolites 5 4 4 4 4 3 1 20 activated carbon6 1 1 to 3 2 to 4 2 to 4 1 3 to 4 10 to 17 Risk range Risk implications 0 to 5 best possible mechanical filtration media 6 to 10 very good filter media for all applications 11 to 15 acceptable filter media should give good results  >15 Considered a public health risk and should not be used

1. AFM®   is manufactured by Dryden Aqua by very strict quality control procedures under  ISO 9000 : 2008 procedures with independent regular audits to insure compliance
2. Crushed glass can not be regulated or certified, there may be everything  from organic toxins to  heavy metals, hepatitis or AIDS contaminated syringes
3. A good quality filter sand is actually a very good filter media for pools and drinking water,  but AFM® will provide up to 80% better solids and dissolved organics removal performance
4. There is huge variability in the quality of sand available,  if you use sand then only use the best available sand.
5  Dr.Howard Dryden completed a PhD on zeolites and is a leading authority on zeolite filtration systems in Europe, Dryden Aqua also supply zeolites but not for swimming pool applications
6. Activated carbon,  if small carbon filters are used and changed on a regular basis then they can improve water quality. The above table relates to activated carbon in  recycle loop, when used properly it will give good results, but if left in the filter for months or years it will cause risk associated issues.  The risk is therefore associated with how the product is used, and when used properly the risk is low.