Pool Managers Research Articles

Analysis of Residual Free Chlorine Content in Rinjani Waterpark Swimming Pool Water, East Lombok District

Water is the most essential component in daily life. One of its uses is as water in swimming pools. A swimming pool is a public place and facility in the form of a pool building used for swimming. The water used in swimming pools must have a quality that complies with the quality standards determined for the water. One of the parameters required in PERMENKES Nomor 2 Tahun 2023 is the remaining free chlorine. This research aims to analyze the residual free chlorine content in Rinjani Waterpark swimming pool water, where it is known from the results of preliminary studies that Rinjani Waterpark uses chlorine as a disinfectant to kill bacteria in the water and purify the pool water. There were several complaints from swimming pool visitors, such as eye irritation and itchy skin after swimming in that swimming pool, so further analysis was needed. The type of research used in this research is descriptive qualitative. The samples used in this research were 4 samples. The sampling technique uses total sampling. Testing was carried out at the STTL Mataram laboratory to see the free chlorine content in water samples using Mohr's Argentometry method. After conducting the research, the results were obtained that the samples that did not meet the requirements were samples with codes P1 M=2.3 mg/L, P3 M=1.77 mg/L, P4 M=2.3 mg/L, and P3 A = 0 mg/L. Visitors who want to visit the Rinjani Waterpark swimming pool are expected to use personal protective equipment (PPE) such as swimming goggles to avoid the impact of chlorine levels that are too high in the water. Swimming pool managers should pay attention to the chlorine dosage in the water so that it does not cause side effects to visitors.

The Effect of Swimming Pool Water Quality on Health Complaints of Child Athletes Using the Swimming Pool (FIKK UNY)

The study aims to determine the effect of swimming pool water quality on the health complaints of children and athletes using the FIKK UNY swimming pool. The research method used was descriptive correlational research. Primary data collection techniques include observation, questionnaires, and interviews, as well as secondary data obtained from books, journals, literature, documentation, and theses related to this research. This research was conducted at the FIKK UNY swimming pool with a population of all children's swimming athletes who use the FIKK UNY swimming pool, as many as 75 children. The sample was determined by random sampling, which amounted to 50 children who were given a questionnaire several times in January 2024. The data analysis techniques used in this research are descriptive analysis and inferential analysis using the SPSS version 26.0 computer program. The results showed that: 1) The description of the water quality of the FIKK UNY swimming pool is in the high value category (meeting health requirements) (64%); 2) The description of user health complaints at the FIKK UNY swimming pool is in the high value category (no health complaints) (56%); 3) Swimming pool water quality has a positive and significant influence on health complaints of child athletes using the FIKK UNY swimming pool (significance value α = 0.00 0.05). Based on the results of the study, the authors suggest to swimming pool managers that they pay attention to the quality of their swimming pool water so that it meets the requirements of PermenKES RI Number 32 of 2017 concerning swimming pool water management, which includes physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters. Parties related to swimming pools are expected to provide counseling on the importance of swimming pool water quality for child athletes in particular and all pool users in general.

Repositioning with unreliable carriers: The case of marine chassis equipment at container ports

Chassis shortage and, especially, dislocation have become major recurring challenges for the maritime industry in the U.S. To prevent chassis dislocation, chassis pool managers at container ports can work with third-party repositioning partners to pro-actively reposition chassis between the different chassis storage yards within the port complex. One challenge that arises in practice is that not all repositioning requests made by the chassis pool manager are fulfilled, i.e. repositioning partners can be unreliable. This paper contributes to our understanding of the impact of unreliable repositioning partners on chassis shortages by presenting a stochastic model to describe the day-to-day evolution of chassis at container ports. Expressions for the chassis shortage probability and the expected time until a shortage are rigorously derived. Using a detailed case study employing real-world data, (counterintuitive) managerial insights are revealed and discussed that can be used to help formulate policies when managing chassis.

DETECTION OF POTENTIAL PATHOGENIC BACTERIA IN SELECTED PUBLIC SWIMMING POOLS: PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

The contamination of recreational waters poses public health risk to users as a result of potential spread of infectious diseases. Hence there is need for continuous monitoring of swimming pools and other recreational waters to mitigate the spread of infections. This study was initiated to investigate the presence of pathogen bacteria of significant public health implications in public swimming pool waters. Water samples were collected from selected public swimming pools in Benin City and transported to the laboratory for microbial analysis. One ml of water sample was spread on the following specific media M endo agar, Chromocult agar and Mannitol Salt agar for the isolation of Total Coliforms Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. Among the 12 swimming pool surveyed and examined, Staphylococcus aureus was detected in 42% (5/12) of samples while E. coli was detected in 67% (8/12) of samples. Coliform was found in 75% (9/12) of the samples. Analysis of respondent questionnaire reveals that 67% (8/12) of swimming pool managers disinfect the swimming pool water weekly while about 17% (2/12) disinfect the swimming pool daily. In general, a range of 2 20 bathers use each pool per day. Also site 6 has the highest number of bathers with bathers ranging from 15 20 bathers per day. The detection of Staphlococcus aureus in the present study suggests poor pool compliance to disinfection standards and poor bathers hygiene. Also, the detection of E.coli and total coliform also indicates fecal contamination or contamination from environmental sources. There is need for incessant monitoring of recreational facilities in order to mitigate the risk of spread of infections in recreational water.

Health-related behaviors and associated factors among swimming pool users in Kombolcha Town, Northeastern Ethiopia.

Unhealthy behaviors during swimming exposes at risk of recreational water-associated diseases. The swimming pool users are the high-risk group for getting and transmitting the diseases. Thus, conducting a study on swimming pool users' health-related behaviors is crucial to prevent the transmission of recreational water-associated diseases. This cross-sectional study was employed among 140 randomly selected swimming pool users from April 1st to 30th, 2021 in Kombolcha Town. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and an on-the-spot-observational checklist. The collected data were entered to EpiData version 4.6 and exported to SPSS version 25 for data cleaning and analysis. Determinants of health-related behaviors were identified by using a multivariable logistic regression model at a p-value < 0.05. The overall good health-related behavior among swimming pool users was 41.4% (95% CI: 33.6-49.3). Out of the total 140 swimming pool users, 55% (95% CI: 46.4-62.9) had good knowledge about health risks during swimming. Good knowledge about health risks during swimming (AOR = 9.64; 95% CI: 3.14-29.61), educational status of college or above (AOR = 6.52; 95% CI: 1.76-24.10) and age being > 28 years (AOR = 6.49; 95% CI: 2.34-18) were factors significantly associated with good health-related behaviors. The finding of the study showed that the majority of the swimming pool users had poor health-related behaviors. Thus, Kombolcha Town Health Bureau and swimming pool managers should give attention to this population to enhance health-related behaviors through addressing the significant predictors.

A numerical study of the impacts of outdoor air intake and air changes per hour on the trichloramine concentrations in a swimming pool enclosure

Trichloramine (NCl3) is a disinfection by-product commonly found in the water and air in indoor swimming pools. The gas is associated with chronic diseases such as asthma and often causes eye and skin irritation. Due to its higher density than air, NCl3 tends to accumulate close to the water surface and above the deck. Mixing ventilation is the main ventilation strategy used in aquatic centers to maintain the NCl3 concentrations at an acceptable level. However, swimming pool halls are known to be significantly energy-intensive, mostly because of water evaporation from the basin. Consequently, building codes recommend maintaining a low airspeed above the pool and deck to minimize evaporation and to ensure swimmers’ thermal comfort. If trichloramine levels are suspected to be too high, pool managers will favor increasing the number of air changes per hour (ACH) while limiting the outdoor air (OA) intake. However, mechanical filtration systems are not designed to remove NCl3 from the airflow. Since its concentration cannot be measured directly, ventilation system parameters are often based on minimum recommendations set out in building codes and may vary in operation according to the CO2 levels in the extracted air, irrespective of the NCl3 level and its accumulation behavior. It remains unknown how the OA intake ratio affects NCl3 levels in breathing zones. This study carries out a numerical investigation of the impacts of the OA and the ACH on NCl3 concentrations in a swimming pool hall in Montreal (Canada). Results show that the minimum recommendations (OA intake and ACH) by ASHRAE are not sufficient to eliminate NCl3 accumulation and stratification in the lower breathing zones. Moreover, air recirculation mostly affects the breathing zones of standing occupants on decks and of lifeguards but has a smaller impact on the breathing zones of swimmers or people sitting on the deck. Eliminating air recirculation does not guarantee better air quality in terms of NCl3 in these breathing zones. The findings for the complex under study may be used to guide similar research in other aquatic centers and for the continuous development of building codes and air quality standards.

An Approach for Blockchain Pool Mining Employing the Consensus Protocol Robust against Block Withholding and Selfish Mining Attacks

This paper proposes an approach for pool mining in public blockchain systems based on the employment of a recently reported consensus protocol with the puzzle based on a symmetric encryption that provides an energy–space trade-off and reduces energy consumption. The proposed architecture employs a pseudo-symmetric allocation of the resources for the blockchain consensus protocol and provides protection against certain malicious actions of the pool members, as well as a miner’s opportunity for selecting the resources required for participation in the consensus protocol. Given that the considered consensus protocol employs two resources, the proposed architecture uses this two-dimensional nature to provide resistance against block withholding and selfish mining attacks, as well as a reduction in energy spending as a trade-off with the employment of certain memory resources. The high resistance of the proposed pool mining approach against the considered attacks appears to be a consequence of the success probability of the pool in comparison with the success probability of malicious miners. Assuming appropriate selection of the puzzle hardness, the probability that malicious miners can solve the puzzle without the support of the pool manager can be arbitrarily small. Implementation of the proposed approach on a modified Ethereum platform and experimental evaluation issues have also been reported. The conceptual novelty of the proposed pool mining approach is the following: Instead of separation of the blockchain consensus protocol and control of pool miners honest work, this paper proposes an approach where honest work of miners and pool managers is provided by a dedicated application of the considered consensus protocol. Advantages of the proposal in comparison with the previously reported ones include the following: (i) high resistance against block withholding and selfish mining attacks without an additional security procedure; (ii) reduction in the energy required, and at the same time preservationthe security of the consensus protocol; (iii) flexibility of the pool miners regarding selection of the resources that should be employed providing a trade-off between required energy and memory resources. The proposed architecture was implemented employing a dedicated modification of the Ethereum platform and the performed experiments confirmed the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposal.

The Quality Assessment of Selected Public Recreational Waters in Sango-Ota Metropolis, Nigeria

The evaluation of selected public swimming pools within Sango-Ota metropolis was done to determine whether the pools adapt to the recommended WHO standard for swimming pool water. Six pools were selected based on the average population per use and user ratings. A total of 12 water samples were analysed physicochemical and microbial qualities using standard methods. The physicochemical characterization results are as follows; pH, 5.00 - 5.73 with mean value of 5.3; Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), 44.00 - 48.50 mg/L with mean 46.0 mg/L; Alkalinity, 24.00 - 28.50 mg/L with mean 26.0 mg/L; total hardness, 0.80 - 1.23 mg/L with mean 1.0 mg/L; iron, 0.05 – 0.69 mg/L with mean 0.3 mg/L; residual chlorine, 1.06 – 3.25 mg/L with mean 1.9 mg/L. The microbial characterization results are as follows; Zero count for Salmonella-shigella; Total Aerobic Plate Count (TAPC),1360 - 7270 cfu/mL; Escherichia coli count, 0 - 7 cfu/mL; coliform count, 2 – 25 cfu/mL. The isolated microorganisms from the pools were Escherichia coli, Proteus Vulgaris, Yersinia Enterocolitica, Proteus Mirabilis, Citrobacter Freundi and Vibro Chlorea occurred in 8.33%, respectively while Klebsiella Pneumonia, Entrobacter Aerogenes, Pseudonomas sp. occurred 16.67%. The pH of the analysed pools didn’t comply with the WHO standards while other physicochemical parameters conform to the standard except for pools C and F which had a higher concentration of iron. However, the existence of pathogenic microorganisms in the pools classified them as unsafe for swimming activities. This study recommends routine testing and comprehensive treatments with respect to regulatory standards. Pool managers should strictly adhere to the bathing load limit and ensure the pool users take shower before using the swimming pools to forestall the outbreak of waterborne diseases

Swimming Pool Regulations in the COVID-19 Era: Assessing Acceptability and Compliance in Greek Hotels in Two Consecutive Summer Touristic Periods

The COVID-19 pandemic has urged many countries to issue new regulations to assure safety in pool environments. Greece enforced stricter requirements in 2020 and 2021 for hotel pools. However, even though regulations are important, they can only be effective when accepted by the pool managers and users. The aim of this study was to (a) assess the acceptability of the regulations by hotel managers; (b) assess compliance during the summer touristic periods in 2020 and 2021; and (c) identify challenges during the implementation of the regulations that need to be addressed. Several non-compliances from the regulations were identified. Continuous chlorination with an automatic chlorinator was not a regular practice and suggested water circulation rates were poorly met. The microbiological and chemical testing frequency of the pool water and keeping the number of bathers allowed per surface area in the pool were reported as the most difficult requirements to meet. Most pool managers agreed that new measures contribute to the pool users’ safety; however, they reported increased cost as the main impediment for their implementation. The modernization of regulations governing swimming pools’ function, in terms of risk assessment orientation, will contribute to the adoption of an integrated compliance strategy on emerging health issues, such as COVID-19.

A discrete-event simulation model for the Bitcoin blockchain network with strategic miners and mining pool managers

As the first and most famous cryptocurrency-based blockchain technology, Bitcoin has attracted tremendous attention from both academic and industrial communities in the past decade. A Bitcoin network is comprised of two interactive parties: individual miners and mining pool managers, each of which strives to maximize its own utility. In particular, individual miners choose which mining pool to join and decide on how much mining power to commit under limited constraints on the mining budget and mining power capacity; managers of mining pools determine how to allocate the mining reward and how to adjust the membership fee. In this work we investigate the miners’ and mining pool managers’ decisions in repeated Bitcoin mining competitions by building a Monte-Carlo discrete-event simulation model. Our simulation model (i) captures the behavior of these two parties and how their decisions affect each other, and (ii) characterizes the system-level dynamics of the blockchain in terms of the mining difficulty level and total mining power. In addition, we study the sensitivity of system performance metrics with respect to various control parameters. Our analysis may provide useful guidelines to mining activity participants in the Bitcoin network.

Mining Pool Selection under Block WithHolding Attack

In current Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain systems, miners usually form mining pools to compete with other pools/miners in the mining competition. Forming pools can give miners steady revenues but will introduce two critical issues. One is mining pool selection, where miners select the pools to join in order to maximize their revenues. The other is a Block WithHolding (BWH) attack, where pools can inject part of their hash/mining power into other pools to obtain additional revenues without contributing to the mining process of the attacked pools. Reasoning that the BWH attack will have significant impacts on the pool selection, we therefore investigate the mining pool selection issue in the presence of a BWH attack in this paper. In particular, we model the pool selection process of miners as an evolutionary game and find the Evolutionarily Stable States (ESSs) of the game (i.e., stable pool population states) as the solutions. Previous studies investigated this problem from the perspective of pool managers and neglected the revenues from attacked pools (attacking revenues), leading to less accurate and insightful findings. This paper, however, focuses on the payoffs of miners and carefully takes the attacking revenues into consideration. To demonstrate how the problem is solved, we consider the scenario with two mining pools and further investigate the case where one pool attacks the other and the case where the two pools attack each other. The results in this paper show that pools can attract more miners to join by launching a BWH attack and the attack power significantly affects the stable pool populations.

Decentralized Mining in Centralized Pools

AbstractThe rise of centralized mining pools for risk sharing does not necessarily undermine the decentralization required for blockchains: because of miners’ cross-pool diversification and pool managers’ endogenous fee setting, larger pools better internalize their externality on global hash rates, charge higher fees, attract disproportionately fewer miners, and grow more slowly. Instead, mining pools as a financial innovation escalate miners’ arms race and significantly increase the energy consumption of proof-of-work-based blockchains. Empirical evidence from Bitcoin mining supports our model’s predictions. The economic insights inform other consensus protocols and the industrial organization of mainstream sectors with similar characteristics but ambiguous prior findings.

تقویم إمکانات حمامات السباحة بمحافظة القلیوبیة

مستخلص البحثقام الدارس/ مراد محمد رضا عبد الفتاح بدراسة تحت عنوان إمکانات حمامات السباحة بمحافظة القليوبية تهدف إلي تقويم إمکانات حمامات السباحة بمحافظة القليوبية . عينة البحث: تم تطبيق الاستبيان على عينة قوامها (200) فرد من مديري حمامات السباحة ، الأخصائيين الرياضيين المشرفين علي حمامات السباحة ، المدربين ، المنقذين وقد قام الباحث بتطبيق الدراسة الأساسية خلال الفترة من يوم 11/ 2 / 2019 إلى يوم الموافق 25 / 2 / 2019 .وکانت أهم النتائج : • حوض السباحة غير کاف لأعداد الممارسين • أعداد المنقذين غير کافية لأعداد الممارسين.• أعداد مدربي السباحة غير کافية لأعداد الممارسينأن الميزانية المخصصة غير کافية للصرف علي أنشطة حمامات السباحة ويجب تخصيص مساحه لبانرات استقبال ولوحات الدعاية والاعلان للشرکات المختلفة لزيادة الايرادات Summary of the researchThe researcher / Mourad Mohamed Reda AbdEl Fattah study under the title Evaluation of the potential of swimming pools in the province of Qaliubia aims to assess the potential of swimming pools in the province of Qaliubiya. Sample of the research: The questionnaire was applied to a sample of 200 swimming pool managers, sports specialists supervising swimming pools, trainers and rescuers. The researcher applied the basic study during the period from 11/2/2019 to 25 / 2019.The most important results were :* • The swimming pool is not enough for practitioners* • The number of rescuers is insufficient for the number of practitioners* • The number of swimming instructors is insufficient for the number of practitioners*

A type of block withholding delay attack and the countermeasure based on type-2 fuzzy inference.

We proposed a new type of bitcoin withholding attack named block withholding delay (BWD). It is different from the traditional withholding attacks which always drop valid blocks. BWD attackers never discard blocks but they delay the submissions of blocks to the pool managers, resulting the pool failed in the mining competitions and loss of rewards. We analyzed the optimum strategy of a BWD attacker who split its computing power into two parts, one was utilized to launch BWD attacks on the victim pools, while the other part was used for solo mining. We present detailed quantitative analysis of the maximum incentive that an attacker can earn by carefully splitting its computing power, and demonstrated that the attacker can obtain higher incentives than its contribution to the network in different conditions. Furthermore, we proposed a countermeasure against BWD based on the interval type-2 Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy inference system (IT2-TSK-FIS). The principle is to modify the private payoff scheme of pools to increase the risk of losing revenues of the rogue miners who deliberately delay block submissions. The scheme dealing the uncertain cause of block delay using fuzzy inference, and it is so designed that it does not require modifications of public mining protocols or data structures of the bitcoin network, which makes it applicable in practical pools.

ANALISIS KADAR SISA KLORIN DAN PH AIR DI KOLAM RENANG UMUM KOTA PEKANBARU

Swimming pool water quality is an important aspect that must be managed and considered so as not to become a health problem in the swimming pool environment. Chlorine levels in swimming pools are useful for killing pathogenic microorganisms, but if excessive levels in water can cause health problems for swimmers such as eye irritation complaints and water pH that is too high or low will cause chlorine to work is not optimal and can lead to precipitation of lime. This study aims to determine the residual levels of chlorine and pH of public swimming pool water in Pekanbaru City. This type of research is experimental assumption. This research was conducted in 7 public swimming pools in Pekanbaru City. According to RI Minister of Health Regulation No. 416 / Menkes / Per / IX / 1990 the remaining chlorine content allowed in swimming pool water is (0.2 - 0.5) mg / L. While the pH level of the swimming pool according to RI Minister of Health Regulation No. 32 of 2017 the normal limit value of swimming pool water pH is 7 - 8. The remaining levels of chlorine and low and high water pH are caused by excessive chlorine intake by pool attendants. This is caused by swimming pool officers only predicting or guessing in pool water disinfectants, because they have never been given training on proper pool water disinfecting methods. Suggestions for pool managers to routinely monitor water quality, residual chlorine levels and pH and it is recommended for pool users to maintain personal hygiene before swimming and using personal protective equipment such as swimming goggles while swimming to avoid eye irritation that can result from contact with pool water

ANALISIS KADAR SISA KLORIN DAN PH AIR DI KOLAM RENANG UMUM KOTA PEKANBARU

Kualitas air kolam renang merupakan aspek penting yang harus dikelola dan diperhatikan agar tidak menjadi suatu gangguan kesehatan di lingkungan kolam renang. Kadar klorin pada kolam renang berguna untuk membunuh mikroorganisme pathogen, namun apabila kadar berlebih di dalam air dapat menimbulkan gangguan kesehatan seperti keluhan iritasi mata dan pH air yang terlalu tinggi ataupun rendah akan mengakibatkan kerja klorin tidak optimal dan dapat mengakibatkan pengendapan kapur. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui kadar sisa klorin dan pH air kolam renang umum di Kota Pekanbaru. Jenis penelitian ini penelitian deskriptif, yaitu untuk mengetahui kadar sisa klorin dan Ph pada kolam renang menggunakan test kit. Penelitian ini dilakukan di 7 kolam renang umum yang ada di Kota Pekanbaru. Analisis data menggunakan analisis univariat. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan dari 7 kolam renang, 4 kolam renang tidak memenuhi syarat. Hanya 3 kolam renang yang memenuhi syarat dalam sisa klorin dan Ph.

KEBERADAAN BAKTERI Escherichia coli PADA AIR KOLAM RENANG UMUM

One indicator of swimming pool water pollution is the presence of Escherichia coli bacteria. Factors can caused the presence of Escherichia coli in pool water are the levels of residual chlorine, the visitors who dispose of metabolic waste (sweat, urine) in pool water and disinfection of pool that were not done properly. This study analyzes the quality of swimming pool water seen from the presence of Escherichia coli in public pool water. This study was an observational analytic that use a cross sectional research design. The sample used were public swimming pool located in the Sukodono Health Center working area with total of pools were 10, and with Fisher's exact test. The results showed that main factor affecting the presence of Escherichia coli in pool water was residual chlorine content with a p-value of 0.019 which means that there was a difference number of Escherichia coli in swimming pools containing residual chlorine and in pool water that didn’t contain residual chlorine.This study concluded that there were differences in the number of Escherichia coli bacteria in pool water containing residual chlorine and in pool water that did not contain residual chlorine. To keep the remaining chlorine in pool water in accordance with Permenkes No. 32 of 2017, pool managers should routinely check the remaining chlorine and do chlorination regularly. Keywords: Escherichia coli, residual chlor, swimming pool

An optimization model for multi-type pallet allocation over a pallet pool

Pallets are widely used around the world. Pallet pooling, as a useful management method of pallets, has become more and more popular. It is very important to allocate pallets over a pallet pool efficiently. However, there is very little literature on the pallet allocation problem as to our knowledge. This article addresses a pallet allocation problem where some uncertain parameters can be estimated through historical data, while some others cannot be. To address this problem, with the method of stochastic chance constrained programming and scenario planning, we propose an optimization model in which sustainable factors and customer priority factors are taken into account. The sustainable factors are used to measure the sustainable development costs of pallets. The customer priority factors are used to measure the customers’ rating. It is proved by experimental tests that the model can help pallet pool managers make more effective pallet allocation schemes against uncertainty. It is also suggested by the r...

Board Diving Regulations in Public Swimming Pools and Risk of Injury.

Public session access to diving boards is one of the stepping stones for those wishing to develop their skills in the sport of diving. The extent to which certain dive forms are considered risky (forward/backward/rotations) and therefore not permitted is a matter for local pool managers. In Study 1, 20 public pools with diving facilities responded to a U.K. survey concerning their diving regulation policy and related injury incidence in the previous year. More restrictive regulation of dive forms was not associated with a decrease in injuries (rs [42] = -0.20, p = 0.93). In Study 2, diving risk perception and attitudes towards regulation were compared between experienced club divers (N = 22) and nondivers (N = 22). Risk was perceived to be lower for those with experience, and these people favored less regulation. The findings are interpreted in terms of a risk thermostat model, where for complex physical performance activities such as diving, individuals may exercise caution in proportion to their ability and previous experience of success and failure related to the activity. Though intuitively appealing, restrictive regulation of public pool diving may be ineffective in practice because risk is not simplistically associated with dive forms, and divers are able to respond flexibly to risk by exercising caution where appropriate.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa on vinyl-canvas inflatables and foam teaching aids in swimming pools.

Swimming pool-related Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections mainly result in folliculitis and otitis externa. P. aeruginosa forms biofilms on surfaces in the swimming pool environment. The presence of P. aeruginosa on inflatables and foam teaching aids in 24 public swimming pools in the Netherlands was studied. Samples (n = 230) were taken from 175 objects and analysed for P. aeruginosa by culture. Isolated P. aeruginosa were tested for antibiotic resistance by disk diffusion. P. aeruginosa was detected in 63 samples (27%), from 47 objects (27%) in 19 (79%) swimming pools. More vinyl-canvas objects (44%) than foam objects (20%) were contaminated, as were wet objects (43%) compared to dry objects (13%). Concentrations were variable, and on average higher on vinyl-canvas than on foam objects. Forty of 193 (21%) P. aeruginosa isolates from 11 different objects were (intermediate) resistant to one or more of 12 clinically relevant antibiotics, mostly to imipenem and aztreonam. The immediate risk of a P. aeruginosa infection from exposure to swimming pool objects seems limited, but the presence of P. aeruginosa on pool objects is unwanted and requires attention of pool managers and responsible authorities. Strict drying and cleaning policies are needed for infrequently used vinyl-canvas objects.