Public pools, spas and jacuzzis: the health licence, the water and the logbook

It is Rule 4.3.11 of Chapter 4.3 of Joint Regulation No. 9473, on the Health Licence, dedicated to the provisions for the design, construction, use and operation of public pools, spas and jacuzzis. It covers the recommendation and permits prior to building, the certification of sanitary conditions with which the licence is obtained, the design specifications that refer to the Puerto Rico Pool and Spa Code, the operational water-quality and cleaning requirements, the pool’s load, the recirculation and treatment systems, the bacteriological standards, quality control with its sampling frequency, the logbook and the rules specific to recreational spas and jacuzzis. This site already has a general guide on the Health Licence, written from other rules of the same chapter; this one covers the pool part, which that guide did not read.

The licence is needed by every person who operates, owns, administers, leases or in any way exercises dominion over a public pool: it is not only the owner. The obligation to keep the daily logbook falls on every owner or administrator of a public pool. And the prior Health Recommendation is needed to build, modify or remodel a pool, not only to build a new one.

• To build, modify or remodel a pool: first submitting a project plan to obtain a Health Recommendation, prior to the Construction Permit from OGPe or the Autonomous Municipality with Hierarchy I to III.Verified against the official source
• Obtaining, before operating the public pool, a Health Licence issued by OGPe, and renewing it under the regulation’s renewal provisions.Verified against the official source
• Before the licence is issued: having two water samples taken on different days, submitting them to bacteriological analysis in a certified laboratory and presenting the results as part of the documents required.Verified against the official source
• Keeping the water’s pH between 7.2 and 7.8, alkalinity not less than 50 parts per million, and free residual chlorine between one and five milligrams per litre.Verified against the official source
• Installing a fence at least four feet high on the perimeter of the pool area, and keeping those surroundings always clean.Verified against the official source
• Keeping the pool always full of water up to the drainage channel, even during the period it is not in use, and emptying it completely at least every six months for a general cleaning.Verified against the official source
• Keeping a daily logbook with the sample results, the pH and residual chlorine readings with their date and time, and the dates the pool and filters were washed, disinfectant was added, the bottom and walls were cleaned and the water was changed.Verified against the official source

• The project plan for the Health Recommendation, which must include the water supply source, the design load, the drains and levels, a description of the equipment to be used and any other information required.
• The results of the bacteriological analyses of the two water samples taken on different days, performed in a certified laboratory, presented as part of the documents required to issue the licence.
• The pool’s daily logbook, with the data the rule lists.
• For recreational spas and jacuzzis: the register recording the pH readings, the disinfectant residual, the water’s bacteriological and chemical counts and the temperatures.

1. 1

   Step 1: Before the works: the Health Recommendation

   To build, modify or remodel a pool, a project plan must first be submitted to obtain a Health Recommendation, prior to the Construction Permit from OGPe or the Autonomous Municipality with Hierarchy I to III. The recommendation is filed with OGPe before construction, under Volume IX of the regulation, and must comply with the provisions of the Puerto Rico Pool and Spa Code adopted in the Construction Code. The plan must also include the water supply source, the design load, the drains and levels, a description of the equipment to be used and any other information required. Note the word "modify": remodelling an existing pool goes through here too.

2. 2

   Step 2: The licence and the two samples

   Every person who operates, owns, administers, leases or in any way exercises dominion over a public pool must obtain, before operating it, a Health Licence issued by OGPe. It is renewed under the regulation’s renewal provisions and must comply with Title 40, Part 141 of the Code of Federal Regulations. And before the licence is issued, the owner, lessor or interested party must have two water samples taken from the pool on different days, submit those samples to bacteriological analysis and present the results as part of the documents required. The analyses must be performed in a certified laboratory.

3. 3

   Step 3: Where the water comes from

   The water supply must come from a potable source approved by the Department of Health and meet the primary and secondary standards of Title 40, Parts 141 and 143 of the Code of Federal Regulations. If the source is a salt-water supply, the water is exempt from the chemical parameters established, except those for iron and colour. A backflow prevention valve is compulsory on the water line of a pool connected to a public supply, and vacuum breakers are installed on all hoses used in the pool. Moreover, enough taps must be provided for hose connection in the area bordering the pool, for cleaning that area.

4. 4

   Step 4: The water’s figures: pH, alkalinity and chlorine

   The pool water is kept free of coliform bacteria, and the chemicals used must be of a source approved by the National Sanitation Foundation, Inc. and compatible with others the Department of Health accepts. The water’s pH is kept between seven point two (7.2) and seven point eight (7.8). Alkalinity is not less than fifty parts per million. Free residual chlorine is kept at a concentration between one milligram per litre and five milligrams per litre. The bromide residual, if applied, is between one and a half and six milligrams per litre. The maximum cyanuric acid concentration is 100 mg/L; quaternary ammonia, five milligrams per litre; silver, 0.1 mg/L; and the maximum residual chlorine with ammonia concentration is kept at 2.0 parts per million.

5. 5

   Step 5: A figure in the document that does not add up: copper

   A note of fidelity to the official document. In the list of maximum concentrations, the copper line is printed with the words and the numeral in disagreement: it says "the maximum copper concentration shall be zero point one milligram per litre (0.4 mg/L)", where the words read zero point one and the numeral says zero point four. The next line, for silver, prints those same words beside the numeral (0.1 mg/L). We do not resolve which of the two figures the regulation meant to set for copper: we reproduce both and recommend asking OGPe or the Department of Health before relying on either. In the same list, the free-residual chlorine line prints the parenthesis as "(mg/L - 5 mg/L)", with the first numeral missing, though the words do say one milligram per litre.

6. 6

   Step 6: The daily cleaning

   The shower floors and walls are cleaned daily with an approved disinfectant at the concentration the manufacturer indicates. The walls, floors and ceilings of the toilets, the changing rooms and any other pool building are kept always in good repair and cleanliness, with the sanitary fixtures clean and working, and the washbasins supplied with liquid soap and paper towel or other mechanical hand-drying equipment, plus a sanitary bin for the paper. The pool’s bottom and walls are cleaned as often as necessary with suitable suction equipment; the drainage channels are kept clean at all times; the floor drains are cleaned as often as necessary; the surrounding floors and pavements are washed daily with a brush; and the equipment for collecting bathers’ hair is cleaned daily.

7. 7

   Step 7: The filters, the emptying and the black disc

   The filters are washed as often as necessary as the pressure loss indicates — when the difference between influent and effluent is five to seven pounds per square inch — and are washed before that difference exceeds seven pounds. The pool is kept always full of water up to the drainage channel, even during the period it is not in use. It is emptied completely at least every six months for a general cleaning, or sooner if the Secretary deems it necessary. The floors, walls and pavements surrounding the pool are kept free of algae and other deposits. The water’s clarity is checked daily. And there is a concrete visual test: the water is kept clean enough throughout the time it is in use so that a six-inch-diameter black disc placed on a white background at the pool’s deepest point is clearly visible from the pavement, up to a distance of ten horizontal yards along it.

8. 8

   Step 8: The four-foot fence, the animals and the drinking fountain

   Three short, checkable rules. The presence of any animal inside the pool area is prohibited. It is compulsory to install a fence at least four feet high on the perimeter of the pool area, and those surroundings are kept always clean. Sanitary bins with well-fitting lids must be provided, conveniently located to dispose of the scattered waste that may be found in the area. And at least one drinking-water fountain must be provided in the pool area.

9. 9

   Step 9: How often the water is tested

   The operator takes samples with this frequency. For bacteriological analysis, including the presence of coliform bacilli, representative samples are taken at least once a month, analysed by a certified laboratory. To determine pH and disinfectant concentrations in the water: before starting operations each day, and at intervals not exceeding four hours while the pool is open to bathers. Total alkalinity must be checked at least once a week. And where cyanuric acid is used in an open-air pool, its concentration must be measured immediately after it dissolves in the water and monthly thereafter. The bacteriological results must conform to Title 40, Parts 141 and 143 of the Code of Federal Regulations applicable to drinking water.

10. 10

    Step 10: The logbook

    Every owner or administrator of a public pool is responsible for keeping these data daily in a logbook: the results of bacteriological and chemical samples, including the date and time each sample was taken and its result; the pH reading with its time and date; the residual chlorine reading, or the residual of any chemical used for disinfection if not chlorine, including the date and time of each reading; the date the pool was washed; the date the filters were washed; the time, date and quantity of chlorine or any other disinfectant added; the time and date the pool’s bottom and walls were cleaned; and the date the pool’s water was changed. That book is the first thing asked for in an inspection.

11. 11

    Step 11: Recreational spas and jacuzzis

    These installations are kept at all times in a good state of cleanliness and conservation. They must be equipped with a complete circulation, filtration and disinfection system. Those equipped with a water heater must have an automatic temperature control system. The operator must periodically check the residual of the disinfectant in use. And a register is kept recording the pH readings, the disinfectant residual, the water’s bacteriological and chemical counts and the temperatures.

12. 12

    Step 12: Where the pool’s design lives

    The regulation does not publish the pool’s dimensions or geometry here: it says the design of pools, spas and jacuzzis must comply with the Puerto Rico Pool Code, the ISPSC, adopted in the current Puerto Rico Construction Code; that the pool’s load is determined as that same code establishes; and that all recirculation and treatment equipment — filters, suction, ionisers, ozone generators, disinfectant dosers and chlorine generators, among others — must comply with the ISPSC and the NSF’s standards. We did not read the ISPSC for this guide, so we publish no measurement taken from it.

The Health Recommendation is filed with OGPe before construction, under Volume IX of the regulation, and comes before the construction permit from OGPe or the Autonomous Municipality with Hierarchy I to III. The pool’s Health Licence is issued by OGPe and renewed under the regulation’s own renewal provisions. The bacteriological analyses of the samples are performed in a certified laboratory.

• Building or remodelling the pool without the Health Recommendation prior to the construction permit.
• Operating the pool before obtaining OGPe’s Health Licence.
• Presenting a single water sample, or two taken on the same day, when the rule requires two on different days.
• Analysing the samples in a laboratory that is not certified.
• Lowering the water level out of season: the pool is kept always full up to the drainage channel.
• Letting more than six months pass without emptying the pool completely for a general cleaning.
• Keeping the logbook without the time of each reading and sample, or filling it in late.
• Letting more than four hours pass without checking pH and disinfectant while the pool is open to bathers.
• Operating without the fence at least four feet high on the perimeter.
• Allowing animals inside the pool area.
• Waiting for the pressure difference to exceed seven pounds per square inch before washing the filters.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Oficina de Gerencia de Permisos (OGPe)

  OGPe

  docs.pr.gov

• Permit Management Office

  ogpe

  ogpe.pr.gov

• Department of Health

  salud

  www.salud.pr.gov