Survey Finds Health Risk Violations in Public Water Facilities Nationwide

Source: Axial Corporation

Nation’s leading authority on local health departments, in collaboration with the Axiall Corporation, detail recreational water facility inspection protocols and the most frequently found violations that impact the swimming public. 

Washington, May 27, 2014 – The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) recently completed a comprehensive survey of aquatic health officials across the United States on their protocols and experiences in inspecting the thousands of recreational water facilities. The study and final report, funded by the Accu-Tab™ Chlorination System,  which is a part of the Water Treatment Products business of Axiall Corporation (NYSE: AXLL), will be released in late summer. 

“Local health departments perform critical functions each day to keep communities healthy and safe”, said Jennifer Li, NACCHO’s director of environmental health, and health and disability.  “NACCHO’s recent survey for local health department inspectors of recreational water facilities was designed to help inspectors better understand the challenges and most common water quality violations to more effectively educate commercial pool owners and operators on how to prevent them from happening in the future. This survey could not have been possible without input from the water treatment experts at Axiall.” 

Preliminary findings from the survey include: 

-75 percent of responding local health departments reported a commercial pool being shut down by their agency within the past two years

Of those that reported a shutdown:

-90 percent attributed it to low sanitizing levels/chlorine
-61 percent attributed to pH being out of balance
-53 percent attributed it cloudiness or turbidity of the water
-Of the respondents, 32 percent report always finding violations in apartment complexes
-54 percent report violations 2 out of 3 inspections in apartment complexes
-Of the respondents, 36 percent reported that hotel/motels have the most water quality violations

“As a leader in the manufacturing of tablet chlorination systems for recreational water facilities across the globe, we recognize that the general public depends on aquatic operators to provide them with a secure and safe water environment. In doing so, they are depended upon to help prevent the outbreak of recreational water illnesses that can cause gastrointestinal distress, eye infections, skin infections and, in rare cases, even death,” said Frank Schiffman, senior marketing manager, Axiall Corporation. “Whether it’s at a waterpark, community pool, hotel pool or pools at a campground owners and operators of these facilities need to be aware of what local public health inspectors look for to ensure the health and safety of people in their communities. More importantly, they need to continuously monitor water quality.” 

The survey consisted of more than 30 multiple-choice and open-ended questions in the following areas:

-Training of health inspectors
-Types of facilities inspected
-Knowledge and water treatment acumen of facility staff
-Inspection components and local regulations
-Most common violations at various types of facilities

In addition to the release of the report in late summer, NACCHO and Axiall will present the findings at the National Swimming Pool Foundation’s (NSPF) World Aquatic Health Conference in Portland, Ore. on October 8-10, 2014.

About the National Association of County and City Health Officials
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) represents the nation's 2,800 local governmental health departments. These city, county, metropolitan, district, and tribal departments work every day to protect and promote health and well-being for all people in their communities. For more information about NACCHO, please visit www.naccho.org.

About Axiall
Axiall Corporation is a leading integrated chemicals and building products company. Axiall, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, has manufacturing facilities located throughout North America and in Asia to provide industry-leading materials and services to customers.  For more information, visit www.axiall.com.