SWIMMING BATHS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23115, 13 August 1938, Page 21

SWIMMING BATHS

ISTROPOLITAN CENTRES JIANTIQUATED FACILITIES IHEALTH STANDARDS IGNORED f DOMINION COUNCIL'S REPORT Xhe assertion that thero is a lack of. facilities for swimming throughout jf e w Zealand, that tho existing facilities are nearly all out of date, and that, the baths in tho metropolitan centres are, in addition, not adequately equipped for tho purification of the water, is made in a report issued by tho council of tho "New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association for presentation to the National Council of Physical Welfare and, Recreation. The report details the results of a survey of swimming facilities conducted by vari-' ous district centres affiliated with the association. / It is stated that a bacteriological survey made two years ago of ijlie Auckiand Tepid Baths, which were built in 1906, disclosed a bacteria population of 1600 to 2400 per oubic centimetre. The safety standard is' 100 per cubic centimetre. A similar survey last summer showed the bacterial population of the Christchurch Tepid Baths gg high "as tho appalling numbers of 15,000 to 20,000. No system of purification existed in j tho Christchurch baths, save for the spasmodic and empirical addition in recent t'/mes of l chemicals to the water. Report on Auckland Pools Tho higher temperatures of tepid baths encouraged tho more rapid incubation of bacteriological forms. Tho popular open-water pools iui the northern districts gave figures far from satisfactory. A supplementary report, setting out the requirements for school and public baths quotes statistics recording that the bacteria population yf the ladies' pool at the '1 epid- Bathri in Auckland was 2400; tho Parnell liaths, 7760 to 12 300; the Shelly Beach Baths, 9250; and tne Mount Eden Baths, 21.000. The- pool at the Diocesan Girls' High School had a bacteria, population of three; at St. Cuthbeirt's College, 26; at Epsom Girls' Grammar School, 10; and at King's Schoo'i, only one. The dates of the tests are not mentioned. In the opinion of t'(ie swimming association the two majo r problems are the provision of facilities where none exist and the introduction of hygienic measures'. Facilities are desired to enable children to be swimming. Most of the districts covered by the survey wero without pools or safe bathing places of any kin<7. Filtration and Sterilising According to the reports, health standards in movst of the New Zealand baths have beeij entirely ignored. The most pernicious mistake was tho belief that frequent changing of the water Would preserve a healthy standard. Water could l>e kept puro only by filtration, together with the presence of a sterilising agency. There were figures available showing that in a bath where the water had not been changed for four but where proper filtration and bact/iriiidal methods had been adopted, fthe water was almost entirely sterile, uil! the other hand, in a bath where tho / water was changed daily, and wherej there was no infection in tho source? of supply, the condition of the water/' was such -as to constitute a grave rnr/fnace to health. Access.) to a swimming pool, the report added, should not be possible except jthiough showers and foot baths, nor sh/ould persons in street attire walk ijpon that part of the bath premises , used by persons entering or emec jvnfz. irom the pool. The majority of tlijo older baths were without scum gutters. The unsatisfactory accommodation for spectators in almost every bath in the: Dominion is also the subject of •cri'scism in the report. ,y. : -