Municipal Swimming Pools Research Articles

Awareness of people using municipal swimming pools about the prevention, symptoms, and treatment of athlete's foot and onychomycosis before COVID-19.

Superficial mycosis is one of the most common diseases worldwide; however, its epidemiology is changing over time. To present the awareness of people using swimming pools about athlete's foot and onychomycosis. A total of 690 participants were subjected to an extensive survey administered via Google Documents. The questionnaire consisted of 30 online polling items and aimed to evaluate respondents' knowledge pertaining to fungal infections, encompassing aspects such as prevention strategies, disease trajectory, and therapeutic modalities. The survey sample specifically encompassed students and sports enthusiasts associated with 33 Internet groups, and data collection transpired during the period spanning 12 January to 15 March, 2018, predating the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the study, 85.2% of participants regularly inspected their feet, with 4.8% seeking podiatric services. While 75.2% demonstrated hygienic behaviour by changing towels after each pool visit, 41.4% acknowledged sharing nail tools. Notably, 75.7% preferred professional assistance for symptoms, with 24.3% opting for home remedies. Gender disparities were evident, with women showing significantly better hygiene practices and pool usage than men (p < 0.001). Women also exhibited a stronger tendency to disinfect grooming tools and prioritise sterility during beautician services (p < 0.001). These findings emphasise the importance of gender-specific health behaviour analysis in promoting preventive measures. The study highlights onychomycosis as a significant societal concern. Pre-COVID-19, awareness among municipal swimming pool users regarding prevention, symptoms, and treatment of athlete's foot and onychomycosis was insufficient.

Race and Recreation in East Texas: A History of Huntsville's Municipal Swimming Pool and Emancipation Park

Race and Recreation in East Texas: A History of Huntsville's Municipal Swimming Pool and Emancipation Park

Strategies to improve destination accessibility: The Case of Vieira do Minho

This paper makes a critical analysis of the accessibility, especially for people with reduced mobility, of the most relevant tourist resources in the town of Vieira do Minho, a municipality belonging to the district of Braga, located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The research presented here aims to increase the quality of local tourist attractions, presenting strategies aimed at improving the accessibility of these attractions by people with reduced mobility. It is also intended to answer the following research questions: (1) how accessible are the tourist resources in Vieira do Minho? (2) What are the conditions offered by the various points of tourist interest in the village of Vieira do Minho? (3) What are the barriers that prevent people with reduced mobility from enjoying tourism in this destination? (4) What strategies can be implemented in the various points of tourist interest to enhance accessibility for all people? The methodology used was the structured observation of accessibility conditions in the main cultural spaces, green spaces, gardens, accommodation and restaurants in Vieira do Minho. It is therefore a matter of systematically observing and recording a set of previously established categories. The results of the investigation make it clear that the municipality of Vieira do Minho is on the right path to become, in the near future, a fully accessible destination for people with reduced mobility. Nevertheless, the present investigation detected some gaps, namely in leisure parks, accommodation units, municipal swimming pools, exhibition houses, among others. In order to become a destination of excellence, in terms of accessible tourism, Vieira do Minho will still have to make some improvements to the tourist offer it has, such as installing ramps and elevators, but also improving the quality of the floors in the tourist resources mentioned in this project.

Investigation of the Relationship between Organizational Cynicism and Job Burnout with the Mediating Role of Organizational Silence in Lifeguards of Tehran Municipal Pools

Introduction: The complexity of working conditions in organizations, including employees' distrust, and challenging working conditions combined with a negative feeling, has led to a sense of frustration in organizations, which can be due to the conditions regarding the community and the organizational climate. The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between organizational cynicism and job burnout with mediating role of organizational silence in lifeguards of Tehran municipal pools.&#x0D; Methods: The research method was causal, and applied in terms of purpose.A survey approach was used to collect data. Tools of collecting data were Kalagan Organizational Skepticism Questionnaire (2009), Dain et al.'s Organizational Silence Questionnaire (2003) and Maslach Questionnaire (1985) for Job Burnout. The statistical population of this study included 436 active lifeguards in Tehran municipal swimming pools. Sampling method was simple random. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data, and LISREL 8.8 software was used for modeling structural equations.&#x0D; Results: Results demonstrated that organizational cynicism through organizational silence, affects job burnout among lifeguards in Tehran municipal pools. The effect was estimated to be 0.56 (z=4.96, ρ≤0.01). It seems that negative attitude of lifeguards, due to their fewer roles in decision-making and lack of information in the organization, causes them to react through silence, and the consequence of such silence, leads to job burnout&#x0D; Conclusion: As a result, the attitude of lifeguards towards their workplace can be negatively accompanied by unpleasant feelings, helplessness and anger, which seriously affects their performance Therefore, it is suggested that management, along with the presence of lifeguards in organizational decision-making processes and transparency, reduce burnout regarding this vital profession.

Improving Water Efficiency in a Municipal Indoor Swimming-Pool Complex: A Case Study

This study aimed to determine the water demand of a municipal swimming pool complex to propose water use efficiency measures. Concomitantly, the possibility of recycling and reusing the water from filter backwashing was evaluated. The pools consumed 25.6% of water, the filter backwashing 24.5%, and the showers 34.7%. Despite the current impossibility of reducing water consumption in pools and filter backwashing, it is feasible to promote more efficient use of water through reducing water consumption by adopting simple water-saving initiatives for showers, taps, and flushing cisterns. These were organized into three distinct scenarios: (a) flushing cistern volume adjustment and the replacement of washbasin and kitchen taps; (b) flushing cistern volume adjustment and shower replacement and (c) flushing cistern volume adjustment, shower, washbasin, and kitchen taps replacement. Under scenarios 1, 2, and 3, the water consumption reduction was 8.0, 13.2, and 20.4%, respectively. The initial investment for scenario 1 was €2290.5, €859.0 for scenario 2 and €3149.5 for scenario 3; the annual water bill reduction was €7115.4, €11,518.1, and €17,655.9, respectively. Therefore, the turnover of the investment was four (scenario 1), one (scenario 2), and three months (scenario 3). The filter washings attained the required standard for irrigation after being subjected to 15 h of sedimentation.

Versorgung der Haupstadt der Bewegung: Infrastrukturen und Statgesellschaft im Nationalsozialistischen München [Supplying the capital of the movement: Infrastructures and urban society in national socialist Munich] by Mathias Irlinger

Reviewed by: Versorgung der Haupstadt der Bewegung: Infrastrukturen und Statgesellschaft im Nationalsozialistischen München [Supplying the capital of the movement: Infrastructures and urban society in national socialist Munich] by Mathias Irlinger Jens Ivo Engels (bio) Versorgung der Haupstadt der Bewegung: Infrastrukturen und Statgesellschaft im Nationalsozialistischen München [Supplying the capital of the movement: Infrastructures and urban society in national socialist Munich] By Mathias Irlinger. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2018. Pp. 432. This book is the published version of a doctoral thesis defended at the University of Munich. It is a contribution to both the history of the Nazi regime and the history of technical infrastructures. Mathias Irlinger highlights the main argument from the very beginning: "Infrastructures . . . contributed to the population's assent to the Nazi regime" (p. 9). In other words, the author interprets urban infrastructures as instruments of power, stabilizing the regime until the very last weeks of the Third Reich. Infrastructure is not completely new to Third Reich studies—historians have [End Page 1243] already shown the symbolic role of highways and the importance of rail for the logistics that enabled the genocide of the Holocaust, for example. Yet, there is still much work to do in this area. The book is a case study of the city of Munich. As the Nazi Party started here and Adolf Hitler kept a private apartment in the city, the local government considered this "capital of the [Nazi] movement" as one of the leading European metropolises of the time. Urban and infrastructure development plans were therefore particularly ambitious. Irlinger focuses on communal infrastructures such as traffic (including road building and tramway systems), energy, and leisure (municipal swimming pool). Irlinger's book is divided into four sections. Irlinger uses the terminology known from scholarship on "large technological systems." In the first chapter he explains the "system management" of infrastructures in Munich under the Nazis, underlining that "system building" had been completed before. It stresses the ties between Nazi ideology and the ambitions of local politicians to improve public infrastructure. In the second chapter he outlines the development of some major projects, including debates of the time on the technical risks of gas provision and a subway scheme for Munich. In perhaps the most interesting part of the book, the author then analyzes multiple interactions between the users and the management of the infrastructure systems, including advertising campaigns, users' complaints or de-mands, and infrastructure as a space for "racial" exclusion of Jews and other minorities (chapter 3). The last chapter is devoted to the links between warfare and local infrastructure, including efforts to improve the logistics of the defense industry; to mobilize women and forced workers for operation purposes during the war; and above all else to mitigate damages or functional limitations due to the war in order to minimize impacts on the individual users. Although the author cites some of the relevant research on infrastructure and power and elucidates the phenomenon of "Eigensinn" (obstinacy, Alf Lüdtke), his conception of power relations is slightly simplistic. In his presentation, the regime was stabilized by the sheer existence of infrastructures in the city. The problem with that idea is another argument put forward in the same book: Irlinger emphasizes that Munich's newly established Nazi city government did a poor job in infrastructure management compared to their predecessors in the Weimar Republic. He asserts that they failed to implement highflying ambitions in infrastructure development. Why then should it have stabilized the regime? The author stresses important propaganda efforts aimed at concealing these failures. He explains that the majority of the population benefited from the increasing exclusion of specific groups, like Jewish inhabitants, from access to the infrastructure. In the war, the exploitation of forced labor contributed to the maintenance of services at a moderate price. During the last years and months of the regime, when important parts of Munich lay in [End Page 1244] ruins, the city government kept on privileging private consumer interests in energy provision and managed to repair public transport to a certain extent. All these efforts would have strengthened the ties between "governors" and governed. This interpretation is in line with seminal interpretations of the Nazis' welfare and consumer...

“Heat, Humidity and Humbug”: The Integration of the Municipal Swimming Pool in York, Pennsylvania, 1947–1954

This study of the closure, lease, and integration of the municipal pool in York, Pennsylvania, from 1947–1954 shows the important but limited value of the integration of a single recreational facility. The uneventful opening and use of the integrated pool were points of pride for civil rights activists and other city leaders, but the coalition that worked to open an integrated pool was motivated by more than racial justice. Supportive of integration but not outspoken about civil rights in the years leading up to the reopening of the pool, the businessmen and civic leaders who directed the Boys Club offered the solution to the controversy after other leaders and civil rights organizations lobbied city council, staged protests, and filed lawsuits. Building on key legal precedents, the York chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) launched successful lawsuits to stop York city council from leasing or selling the pool in order to avoid integration; J. W. Gitt’s radical newspaper, the York Gazette and Daily, kept the injustice of segregation on its front page; and then city boosters provided financial backing to fix the embarrassment of the decaying pool.

Reconsidering Palmer v Thompson

Reconsidering Palmer <scp>v</scp> Thompson

“Burkini” bans in Belgian municipal swimming pools: Banning as a default option

Muslim women’s religious dress is a matter that exercises many minds and the recent public debate on the so-called “burkini” (preferably phrased as “body covering swimwear”) is the umpteenth variation on the theme. Following the French commotion on the presence of “burkini” wearers at the coast in 2016, the “burkini” became the subject of public debate in Belgium. Whereas the “burkini” did not cause much public unrest in the context of the Belgian coast, the majority of local swimming pools in the Flemish region of Belgium do have dress codes banning the “burkini”, even before the (inter)national media outcry. This article discusses the prevalence of these restrictive dress regulations and scrutinizes the rationalisation behind local “burkini” bans in municipal swimming pools. These findings are complemented with the perspectives and experiences of “burkini” wearers, who challenged the “burkini” bans before the court. Finally, this article analyses the “burkini” bans in light of European human rights standards.

Assessment of Microbiological Safety of Water in Public Swimming Pools in Guangzhou, China.

This study assessed microbiological safety of water from public swimming pools in Guangzhou, China. Water samples from 39 outdoor municipal swimming pools were collected from late June to early September, 2013 and subjected to detection of protozoa (Giardia and Cryptosporidium) and bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginos, total coliforms, E. coli, E. coli O157, Shigella, and Salmonella). Cryptosporidium and Giardia were both detected in 5 (12.8%) swimming pools. Total coliforms were detected in 4 (10.3%) samples with concentrations ranging from 1.3 to 154.0 MPN/100 mL while E. coli was detected in 4 (10.3%) samples with concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 5.3 MPN/100 mL. P. aeruginosa was detected in 27 (69.2%) samples but E. coli O157, Shigella and Salmonella were not detected. Among these swimming pools, 9 (23%) met the Chinese National Standard of residual chlorine levels and 24 (62%) were tested free of residual chlorine at least once. The multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) analysis showed that all P. aeruginosa isolates belonged to new sequence types (STs) with dominant ST-1764 and ST-D distributed in different locations within the area. Some P. aeruginosa strains were resistant to medically important antibiotics. Results indicate potential public health risks due to the presence of microbiological pathogens in public swimming pools in this area.

Allison K. Shutt. Manners Make a Nation: Racial Etiquette in Southern Rhodesia, 1910–1963.

Bridging the gap between the history of respectability politics and the growing field of the history of emotions, Allison K. Shutt’s Manners Make a Nation: Racial Etiquette in Southern Rhodesia, 1910–1963 carves out a new path. She mined colonial archives, personal correspondences, and newspaper articles to identify key moments when government officials, settlers, African elites, and nationalists in Southern Rhodesia employed the concept of what Shutt calls “racial etiquette” to negotiate the terms of colonialism between 1910 and 1963. While racial etiquette more often than not implied the racist, paternalist, and masculinist ethos of white settler society, Shutt reveals the ever-expanding cracks in its façade. The book consists of six main chapters and an introduction. Chapter 1 provides the historical framework for legal debates over “insolence” and establishes the book’s central narrative: that prevailing ideas about racial etiquette shifted with the rise of nationalism after World War II. In chapter 2, Shutt closely analyzes two cases of minor disputes over manners from the 1930s: one that arose when a government official knocked the hat off an African urban elite man, the other when the wife of an officer interfered with the work of a junior official to cull African-owned cattle herds. The two cases provide a rich and nuanced glimpse into colonial society and the role of hats, gestures, glances, and interpersonal space in shaping racial etiquette. This chapter vividly illustrates that racial etiquette in Southern Rhodesia was a “work in progress” involving arbitrations over race, gender, class, and dignity. Chapter 3 offers a unique look at the tensions that arose when older white settlers sought to induct “newcomers” into local rules of racial etiquette, sometimes unsuccessfully. This chapter offers a brief but important look at cleavages in Southern Rhodesia’s white society during the 1940s and 1950s. Debates about racial etiquette moved into a more public and political space during the 1950s, the focus of chapters 4 and 5. Here, Shutt argues that the establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1953 sparked new debates in which African nationalists demanded more respect from whites. Ultimately, Africans and their allies launched a formal “courtesy campaign” during the early 1960s that highlighted the tensions around desegregation of public places. Shutt’s discussion of conflicts over integration at municipal swimming pools in chapter 5 is particularly rich in identifying the racialized and sexualized undertones of white fears about desegregation. Chapter 6, which serves as a sort of epilogue in lieu of a conclusion, briefly addresses the impact of these debates about manners in the early 1960s prior to the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) by the white Rhodesian government in 1965.

Optimization of Energy and Water Management of Swimming Pools. A Case Study in Thessaloniki, Greece

Improvement of living standards and increased demand for consumer goods have as consequence the increase of energy and water consumption. At the same time, increasing awareness of the respective environmental impact has prompted the European Union (E.U.) to issue a list of Directives for the Member States that promote conservation of natural resources. Moreover, this environment-friendly attitude may alleviate the impact of the economic crisis, since energy and water savings result in saving money.In the present paper, some ways toimprove sustainability of swimming pools through reducing energy and water consumption, are analyzed and compared.An open municipal swimming pool in Thessaloniki, Greece, is used as case study. Research is focused on heating energy, where more savings can be achieved. Especially, installation of solar thermal collectors, geothermal heat pumps, or photovoltaic panels and construction of a light roof are analyzed. Moreover, some recommendations are made, concerning the general improvement of a swimming pool and its surroundings. The goal is to reduce the operation expensesof the pool and, if possible, to increase the income, so that it can be economically viable throughout the year.Finally, several suggestions are evaluated by means of the RETScreen software, in order to find out which investments are reasonable. For the evaluation a Cost – Benefit Analysis has been carried out, using the Net Present Value criterion, the Internal Rate of Return criterion and the Benefit – Cost ratio. Finally, a SWOT analysis is performed and a policy is suggested, which should be followed by the administration of the swimming pool.

Effect of ozonation of swimming pool water on formation of volatile disinfection by-products – A laboratory study

Ozonation experiments were performed using unchlorinated tap water used for filling municipal swimming pools, actual pool water and pool water polluted by addition of fresh tap water and artificial body fluid to evaluate ozone kinetics and water quality effects on formation of volatile disinfection byproducts during subsequent chlorination.The ozone reaction was observed to behave according to first order kinetics. For tap water half-life was 4min whilst polluted and unpolluted pool water exhibited half-life of 8 and 11min, respectively. When ozonation dosage was repeated half-life of ozone was approximated 17–19min in all samples.Subsequent chlorination revealed ozone removed reactivity of dissolved organic carbon toward chlorine for tap and polluted pool water, decreasing formation rate of trihalomethanes (TTHM). In pool water higher rates of TTHM formation was observed after the initial ozone dosage, however this decreased with subsequent treatments. For tap and polluted pool water, ozone reacted directly with the pollutants resulting in a short ozone half-life, removing reactivity towards chlorine oxidation and preventing TTHM production. Conversely for pool water samples, due to the long half-life of ozone, the molecule decomposed to hydroxyl radicals. These in turn reacted with aqueous organic matter increasing chlorine reactivity and rates of TTHM formation. Formation of other non-regulated volatile byproducts (e.g. dichloracetonitrile, trichlorpropanone and trichloronitromethane) was observed to increase in pool water with ozone treatment. Thus, ozonation dosage regimes should be designed such that ozone mostly oxidizes fresh pollutants before chlorine is able to react with it.

Abandoning Nature: Swimming Pools and Clean, Healthy Recreation in Hamilton, Ontario, c. 1930s–1950s

Municipal swimming pools arose as a technological fix for an urban public health and recreation crisis in Hamilton when its bay became a polluted sink for residential and industrial wastes. Until World War II, city leaders and medical authorities believed that they could identify, delineate, and construct safe natural swimming areas along the bay's shore, supplemented by a few public artificial swimming pools. After the war, the pollution situation worsened. For those who couldn't travel to cleaner lakeshores elsewhere, local authorities created swimming pools, thus abandoning the natural waters of the bay to the "constructive power of the profit motive".

Concentration levels of urea in swimming pool water and reactivity of chlorine with urea

This study investigated the reactivity of chlorine with urea which is the main nitrogen contaminant introduced into swimming pool water by bathers. In the first part of this study, analyses showed that the mean concentrations of urea and TOC determined from 50 samples of municipal swimming pool were equal to 18.0 μM (s.d. 11.7) and 3.5 mg C L−1 (s.d. 1.6), respectively. The mean value for the urea contribution to the TOC content was 6.3% (s.d. 3.3). The rate of decomposition of urea in swimming pool water measured during the closure time of the facility was very slow (decay at the rate of ≈1% per hour in the presence of 1.6–1.8 mg L−1 of free chlorine). In the second part of this work, experiments carried out with phosphate buffered solutions of urea ([Urea]0 = 1 mM; [Cl2]0/[Urea]0: 0.5–15 mol/mol; pH 7.4 ± 0.2; reaction time: 0–200 h) showed that long term chlorine demand of urea was about 5 mol Cl2/mol of urea. Chlorination led to a complete mineralization of organic carbon into CO2 for a chlorine dose of 3.5 mol/mol and to the formation of 0.7–0.8 mol NO3−/mol of urea for chlorine dose of 8–10 mol/mol. Experiments conducted with dilute solutions of urea ([Urea]0 = 50 μM; pH ≈ 7.3) confirmed that the degradation rate of urea by chlorine is very slow under conditions simulating real swimming pool water.

Using a leaky swimming pool for a huge falling-head permeability test

Despite recent repairs, a heated municipal swimming pool had major leaks. To determine the possible position of the leak or leaks, a full scale falling-head permeability test was performed. All the valves for circulating hot and cold water were closed for monitoring the variation with time of the water level in the pool. The velocity graph, which represents the conservation equation in variable-head tests, helped to determine the positions of leaks. Subsequent excavations found broken pipes and connections, their failure being related to high differential settlement caused by poor compaction of pipe foundations.

A swimming pool-related outbreak of pharyngoconjunctival fever in children due to adenovirus type 4, Gipuzkoa, Spain, 2008

An outbreak of pharyngoconjunctival fever affecting 59 children was detected in a municipality of northern Spain in July 2008. The outbreak was related to insufficient doses of water disinfectant in the municipal swimming pool.

Ultrasound-assisted emulsification–microextraction of emergent contaminants and pesticides in environmental waters

The analytical use of ultrasound-generated emulsions has recently found a growing interest to improve efficiency in liquid–liquid extraction since they increase the speed of the mass transfer between the two immiscible phases implied. Thus, dispersed droplets can act as efficient liquid–liquid microextractors in the continuous phase, and later they can be readily separated by centrifugation. A novel method based on ultrasound-assisted emulsification–microextraction (USAEME) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS) has been developed for the analysis of synthetic musk fragrances, phthalate esters and lindane in water samples. Extraction conditions were optimized using a multivariate approach. Compounds were extracted during 10 min in an acoustically emulsified media formed by 100 μL chloroform and 10 mL sample (enrichment factor = 100). The method performance was studied in terms of accuracy (recovery = 78–114%), linearity ( R 2 ≥ 0.9990) and repeatability (RSD ≤ 14%). Limits of detection (LODs) were at the pg mL −1 level for most of compounds, and at the sub-ng mL −1 level for the most ubiquitous phthalate esters. USAEME is proposed as an efficient, fast, simple and non-expensive alternative to other extraction techniques such as SPE, SPME and LPME for the analysis of environmental waters including bottled, tap, river, municipal swimming pool, sewage and seaport water samples. Since no matrix effect has been found for any of the water types analyzed, quantification could be carried out by using conventional external calibration, thus allowing a higher throughput of the analysis in comparison with other microextraction techniques based on equilibrium such as solid-phase microextraction.

Swimming pool water treatment by ultrafiltration–adsorption process

Disinfection by-products are of great concern in swimming pool water where water treatment generally involves a disinfection step with chlorine. In fact, swimmers can contribute a large quantity of organic matter that can lead to the formation of chloramines, chloroform and chloroacetic acids. These compounds can lead to health problems among the staff and pool users, especially babies or little children. The water quality improvement and productivity performance of the hybrid process, ultrafiltration–adsorption, is investigated. An original work, this paper presents results obtained in a real pool system for the first time. An industrial unit was installed in a municipal swimming pool in Marseille (France) and the process was studied for more than 18 months. After a study on water quality according to pool usage (activity and number of swimmers), the influence of transmembrane pressure and filtration time on ultrafiltration performance was evaluated. Optimal ultrafiltration operating conditions were found to be at a transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 0.45 bar and a filtration time ( T f) of 60 min for the entire range of each water quality parameter studied. The filtration unit enabled water clarification, and the adsorption step limited the concentration of combined chlorine in water to 0.35 ppm, well below the limit given by the French legislation (0.6 ppm). Due to a succession of filtration and backwashes, permeability never decreased below 160 L h −1 m −2 bar −1. In spite of difficult conditions in terms of frequent pool usage and total chlorine concentration, the membranes have shown promising flexibility in this hybrid process.

Local aquatic empires: The municipal provision of swimming pools in england, 1828–1918

Starting in 1828 with the construction of the first municipal swimming pool in England, the St George's Baths, Liverpool, municipal authorities began to build facilities for swimming across the country. Initially, private companies had provided citizens with their bathing experiences. By 1918, however, the municipal sector was the predominant provider of swimming pools to the public. This development came about because of changes in legislation, most notably the Baths and Washhouses Act, 1846, and prevailing notions of civic pride and societal necessity.