Swimming pool asthma
although i am not asthmatic chemicals in pools seriously affect my health
i now no longer swim. Do you know where i might obtain a list of saltwater indoor swimming pools? I live n.london/hertfordshire area
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The usual problem with asthma in swimming pools is due to the chloramines in the air, These are produced when chlorine releasing agents are used as a disinfectant; they react with nitrogen to form chloramines, which is what inddor pools often smell of. Using a salt water pool will not help if chlorine releasing agents are used to disinfect it. You need a pool which uses a totally different disinfecting system.
The link below has more information.
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I have sent your request for chlorine free pools to ISRM.co.uk and hope they will reply
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I have had the following reply from Sport England. In my opinion bromamines are less volatile than chloramines, and are therefor less likely to be inhaled in swimming pool air. They may cause similar reactions to chloramines, but this has so far not been demonstrated.
The problem is there are very few pools that don¹t use chlorine, some use
bromine as residual disinfectant but this also combines with ammonia to form bromamines. There has to be an effective residual disinfectant in the water to stop the spread of any infection from one bather to another. With many people in close proximity to each other in the same body of water if the residual disinfection is not effective then there is a very real and serious risk of the spread of disease. Chlorine is the main disinfectant used in drinking water in many cases at not much greater levels than swimming pools, few people are reactive to chlorine, and as you say the problem is the chloramines. Ideally people who do react badly to chloramines should try to find a pool where these are minimised. Pools that use supplementary treatments for disinfection such as Ozone, UK or Chlorine Dioxide are usually much better in terms of chloramine levels as the quantity of chlorine used for residual disinfection in the water is much less than a conventional pool. Having said that there are many public pools where chloramines are minimised and conditions excellent. These pools are well engineered, never over used, insist that bather use pre swim hygiene procedures and they reduce the levels of free chlorine in the pool to the minimum required to stop any cross-infection from one bather to another.
Sport England website has a new list of facilities in its data base on the
front page that anyone can access to find out pools near to them, details
may not be available on the type of disinfection they use but a phone call
enquiry or a brief visit to simply smell the air
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Dear Pat,
I was interested in your request as I have exactly the same problem and am looking for chlorine free pools in the Berkshire area.
If anybody comes back to you, please could you e-mail me too with a copy.
Many thanks and good luck.
Gloria
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The best system that I have seen is : Wellness Water Ltd supply a complete reidential water enhancement system that makes your entire household water system into a mineral spa, I am not sure if they do systems for swimming pools or just houses but they are great.
check out : www.wellness-water.co.uk
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You should be aware that "salt water" pools are not what they may at first seem. Salt is added rather than chlorine, but the salt is then converted to chlorine by electrolysis. (called a chlorine generator)
If you experience problems due to chemical compounds (typically chloramines) in pools, your best option is to find pools using a secondary disinfection system. This may be Ozone, UV and other types of systems. Pools using these types of additional disinfection systems can reduce the total chlorine levels which are typically mandated and required by law.
The most recent addition to the list of disinfection equipment for pools is the Savastat SC-P with Hydropath Technology. These units use high frequency signals which act to destroy bacteria, and provide additional benefits in conditioning pool and spa water.
I believe that you will find pools using this equipment will be a much more pleasurable experience for you. You can learn more about the Savastat SC technology at this site: http://www.rlmec.com
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