WynActive aims to keep its swimming pools safe and clean, but there are simple things we can all do to help.
Pathogens are microorganisms (bacteria, viruses and parasites) that cause illness. They can be introduced to the water by contaminants people carry on their bodies. Practising good hygiene before swimming helps to prevent contamination.
We are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for everyone.
Follow these simple steps can help keep the pool safe and clean:
We can all carry pathogens on our bodies, which can wash off and contaminate pool water. Chlorine can kill most pathogens, but it doesn’t kill them straight away. Some parasites, like Cryptosporidium, a single-celled parasite that causes diarrhoea, can survive in pools for days.
We are more likely to be infectious when we are not feeling well. For example, when you have an upset stomach or diarrhoea, there are thousands of pathogens in your faeces and traces on your bottom. These pathogens can wash off and contaminate the pool whenever you swim.
To keep pathogens out of the pool, it is important not to swim with diarrhoea, and for 14 days after your symptoms have passed.
When you have an infection, you should not swim while infectious. For example:
You can ask your general practitioner (doctor) for advice about swimming if you or your children are diagnosed with any infection.
If you or your family develop a gastrointestinal illness after swimming at a public pool, contact the pool manager so any potential gastro outbreak can be monitored.
Pool water is not known to transmit COVID-19. The World Health Organisation states that “for a conventional public or semi-public swimming pool with good hydraulics and filtration, operating within its engineered bathing load, adequate routine disinfection … should be sufficient to eliminate enteric pathogens and enveloped viruses, like coronaviruses, which are sensitive to chlorine disinfection.” [1]
WynActive maintains its pool water in accordance with the Victorian Public Health & Wellbeing Act 2008.
Young children may still be learning to control their bowel movements, so parents and supervisors should be extra careful to prevent faecal accidents.
To prevent faecal contamination:
Public aquatic facilities must maintain suitable water quality to prevent the spread of illness as governed by the Victorian Public Health & Wellbeing Act 2008. Facilities are expected to have effective treatment barriers in place to reduce harmful microorganisms including viruses, bacteria and protozoan parasites.
WynActive adopts a multi-barrier approach which involves two or more types of treatment processes to address pathogen risk. Each treatment process on its own may not be able to completely remove or prevent contamination, but together, the treatments work to provide greater assurance that the water will be safe for use.
All of this is done to make sure the pool water is as safe as possible for swimming.
[1] World Health Organisation, (2020). ‘Water, sanitation, hygiene, and waste management for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, Interim guidance, 29 July 2020.’
