UN agency launches first-ever global guidelines on swimming, bathing places

Aiming to minimize risks associated with swimming pools, spas and other recreational bathing areas, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today launched the world’s first-ever international guidelines on how to create safe places to swim and bathe.

With swimming, bathing and spas becoming more ever more popular globally comes increased spinal injuries, disease and even death, WHO said.

The agency’s Guidelines for Safe Recreational Water Environments: Swimming Pools and Similar Environments include both specific values for contaminants and a set of recommended best practices to support safe management and use of recreational waters, pools and spas and prevent unnecessary disease and injury.

They point towards simple, achievable measures that have been shown to be effective in protecting health. These include effective supervision by lifeguards, better water quality and ventilation management, and improving ways to deal with children’s ‘accidental fecal releases,’ and the outbreaks of disease which they can cause.

“We are seeing an ever-greater use of rivers, lakes, pools, spas and other bathing facilities, worldwide and year-round, in both developing and developed countries. While in principle this is a positive development from the health perspective, unfortunately the benefits are tempered by rising rates of death, injury and disease associated with their use,” said Dr Maria Neira, Director of WHO’s Department of Public Health and the Environment.