Will County’s 133 public swimming facilities and 12 bathing beaches traditionally open for business during Memorial Day weekend, and the Will County Health Department said it will begin inspections to ensure each venue is ready.
Will County Environmental Health personnel currently inspect each local recreational water venue to ensure compliance with the Illinois Swimming Facility Act and code. The state inspection form for public pools lists 80 items requiring attention, and the inspection for every local beach facility includes 42 items.
Although the state requires just one annual inspection, provisions of the Will County Public Swimming Facility Ordinance authorize additional visits designed to ensure health and safety. Outdoor public pools are typically inspected by the health department monthly and are evaluated with the help of a 24-item inspection form.
Indoor water facilities are inspected at least once every 60 days during warmer weather and monthly once temperatures begin to drop. Beaches are inspected at least twice monthly during summer.
Will County sanitarians spent 685 work hours inspecting public pools, spas, wading pools, water slides, spray pads and lazy river facilities during 2015, according to the health department. Those numbers included 322 follow-up inspections to make sure that any problems found during initial site visits were corrected.
The department said staff spent more than 70 additional work hours on beach inspections and sampling. Staff collected 186 beach water samples for bacteriological analysis, but the amount of inspection time devoted to each facility hinges on several factors.
“Facilities with multiple features, like lazy rivers, water slides and spas, require additional inspection time,” the department’s administrative services director, Elizabeth Bilotta, said. “Each feature warrants its own inspection. We visit all 133 area facilities regularly, but those locations include 225 features that must be inspected. The program requires lots of staff time, but it’s worth the investment because it helps to reduce the potential for recreational water illnesses and injury too.”
Americans are expected to make more than 376 million trips to recreational water venues during 2016, some of which may result in an unpleasant illness. More than 60 percent of illnesses linked to swimming pools, water parks and beaches are caused by cryptosporidium – a chlorine-resistant parasite that can produce diarrhea, cramps, nausea and fever.
Most people with healthy immune systems will recover in a few days without treatment. However, dehydration caused by recreational water illness can be serious for infants, children, pregnant women and individuals with compromised immunity.
For more information about avoiding recreational water illnesses, visit www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming. For more information about the health department’s swimming facilities and beaches program, visit www.willcountyhealth.org.