Why are unprotected swimming and spa pools a health risk?
A swimming pool or spa provides an effective medium for the transmission of human pathogenic microorganisms (microorganisms that can cause human disease) unless the pool or spa is effectively protected by a sanitiser that can kill those microorganisms. Some of these dangerous microorganisms are present generally in the environment, are carried into pools by wind, birds and debris and are able to grow in numbers in the pool environment. Other kinds of pathogenic microorganisms can be released in large numbers into pools directly by infected individuals. An effective sanitiser needs to be able to kill these microorganisms quickly to prevent spread from person to person. Inadequately sanitised swimming pools and spas have been shown to cause significant illness and even death from both of these kinds of pathogenic microorganisms. Deaths believed to be caused by spa-sourced Legionella bacteria infections have been documented in Queensland, Victoria and South Australia in 1994, 1996, 1999,
