Comparative Analysis

The following points are observed in current regulations regarding WATER, in Spain:

1. All regulations indicate that the supply of swimming pool water must come from the mains, otherwise it is necessary to obtain authorisation from the corresponding Health Department.

None of the regulations consider the particular case of public swimming pools using sea water.

2. The regulations follow the same criteria regarding the volume added to pools each day - 5% of the volume of pool water must be added.

3. All regulations refer to the recirculation time of water contained in the pool, and depending on this, minimum flows are established.

4. There is no single criteria regarding the regulations of joint treatment of water from children's or leisure pools.

Regulations in Catalonia, Navarra, Valencia, La Rioja and Galicia do not make any reference to this, either in favour or against.

The Communities of Madrid and Murcia stipulate that treatment must be independent.

The Basque Country permits joint filtration, as long as disinfection is done independently.

5. The only Autonomous Community to include in its regulations a list of authorised products which can be used for water treatment of swimming pools, is Catalonia.

6. When quality criteria of the pool water are set, it is difficult to interpret the limit values of the contents in free chlorine and combined chlorine, as the pH interval, the disinfection system used and the type of swimming pool are all taken into consideration.

Quality criteria of pool water differs, in some cases considerably, depending on the regulations of each Community.

Apart from the above analysed points, a general comparative summary has been drawn-up on the different aspects covered by the Regulations