[Treatment of thermal pool waters]

No laws currently exist regarding the treatment of spa pool water, since it is not completely logical that these should have the same requirements as normal swimming pools. The problem arises especially with regards to the use of chlorine as a disinfectant, which may actually annulate the therapeutic effects of spring waters by altering their physical-chemical characteristics. Possible choices may be represented by frequent replacement of pool water, which may be easily achievable for small pools but more difficult to implement for larger pools, or by alternative disinfection methods such as ozone or ultraviolet rays. The efficacy of these methods must be shown through frequent chemical and microbiological analyses and future, to be hoped-for laws or guidelines, will need to be aimed at defining safety performance standards rather than prescribing analytical intervention and control methods. Beyond the choice of disinfection method, it is extremely important to highlight some relevant hygienic measures that bathers should take and that play a fundamental role in preventing infectious diseases which may be acquired in pools. The most important of these include: showering before entering the pool, wearing slippers around the pool, not urinating in the pool, not bathing if affected by diarrhea, wearing a bathing cap, avoiding the use of contact lenses while bathing and avoiding exchanging towels. Pool managers have the important role of avoiding overcrowding of the facilities and ensuring that all technological systems function properly.