Look before you leap

Nothing may refresh like a dip in a pool on a hot day.

Then again, look what inspectors find about public pools along the Wasatch Front:

In the past 18 months, they cited several pools for floating scum; found dozens of pools where dangerous bacteria were "too numerous to count"; found scores with no chlorine or bromine to kill germs; and even saw one hot tub sitting at a scalding 124 degrees instead of the normal 104 degrees.

"Do I hesitate to get into a public pool? Yes," said Ron Tobler, who oversees Utah County's pool inspection program.

He says that is because he is a biologist who knows far too well how dirt, germs, sweat and other bodily fluids from swimmers can become dangerous if water chemistry is not watched and controlled constantly. (However, he still lets his children swim.)

"It is communal bathing," he said. "For example, the average adult sitting in a 104-degree hot tub will perspire one pint of perspiration into the water in 30 minutes."

Multiply such things by a pool full of people, and it shows the need for careful disinfecting.

But Deseret Morning News analysis of inspection records in Salt Lake, Davis and Utah counties shows that public pools often fail to control water quality well. Among the findings — for the period between January 2004 and mid-July 2005 — are:

• One of every 10 public pools was closed temporarily, often voluntarily, after dangerous conditions were revealed by health department water quality tests or inspections. That is a bit higher than a national closure rate of one of every 12 found in a 2003 Centers for Disease Control study. (See the accompanying chart listing temporarily closed pools.)

• Two of every five local pools failed at least one of the tests for dangerous bacteria that are performed monthly by health departments in Salt Lake and Utah counties, and twice a month in Davis.

• Nearly four of every five public pools did not meet state-suggested ranges for disinfectant (such as chlorine) and/or pH levels in at least one of their regular health department tests. In fact, 52 pools never managed to meet that range in such tests. That could lead to problems with bacteria and other germs.

• One of every three water test samples collected did not meet state-suggested ranges for disinfectant. Nationally, studies suggest about one of every nine tests fail to meet such guidelines — so local rates are three times higher.