SBN 3-934484-86-7
DIN A 4, 52 pages

Background and content:

Swimming, bathing and cleaning oneself are historically closely interconnected activities of joint origins. Over the course of time, a bathing culture has developed from these activities, which, besides the factors of cleaning and cooling off as wells recreation, communication, playing and sports, has also been increasingly aiming at medical-therapeutic objectives during the last years.

With an increasing pollution of natural waters and the advanced knowledge of hygiene, water was treated ever progressively, usually based on the application of chemicals. This chemical treatment is often regarded problematic by visitors of swimming and bathing facilities especially in connection with allergic diseases, skin irritations, eye redness, etc.

As opposed to this, water treatment in swimming and bathing pond facilities is implemented biologically, according to the self-cleaning capability of natural waters. The underlying principle comprises biological, physical and chemical-physical processes. Therefore, the objective is not the production of sterile bathing water, but rather the establishment of an ecological system which eliminates the pollution introduced by bathers in a separate treatment area. As a matter of curse, the bathers health and safety are of mayor concern against this background.

Swimming and bathing pond facilities are consistently gaining importance, particularly for municipalities. For municipal outdoor swimming pools in need of sanitization, which are threatened by close-down due to the public financial situation, such facilities offer the possibility of functionality restoration, operation and preservation at reduced financial expenditures. However, special requirements are placed upon the planning, construction, servicing and operation of public swimming and bathing pond facilities. This necessitates technical knowledge and experience from various disciplines, particularly with regard to filtration, flow penetration technologies, biological decomposition processes in damp biotopes and human hygiene. To attain a certain standard for swimming and bathing pond facilities, the development of a specific rulebook for such facilities was indispensable. This is why the German Forschungsgesellschaft Landschaftsentwicklung Landschaftsbau e. V. (FLL) association established a rulebook committee consisting of an interdisciplinary team.

The respectively developed recommendations presented herein contain comprehensive specifications and notes on the objective aspects mentioned above and have been coordinated with other rulebooks on this subject matter especially with the Hygienic requirements for small bathing ponds (artificial swimming and bathing pond facilities) recommendations published by the German federal environmental agency.

Details:

• Scope of Validity, Definition of Terms, Legal and Normative Basics, Water Quality Requirements (General Information / Physical Parameters / Chemical Parameters / Biological Parameters / Hygienic-Microbiological Parameters)


• Planning Requirements (Site Criteria / Space Requirements / Infrastructure)


• Constructional-Technical Requirements (Utilization Area Dimensions, Flooring, Wall Formation, Shore/Basin Edge Formation, Entrances, Exits and Bridges, Diving Facilities, Hydraulics/Basin Flow Penetration / Treatment Area Biotechnical Procedures, Physical-Chemical Procedures, Planting)


• Acceptance, Claims of Defects, Servicing (Inspection / Maintenance / Caretaking)


• Operation and Control (Operability and Usage Safety / Water Quality Control / Documentation / Usage Safety Assurance and Supervision Obligation / Information of Bathers)