Chlorine-Free and Disinfected Swimming Pool
After Express News had published its article covering the subject-matter of swimming pools and their significance to health (“Water – origin of rational existence” of 02.02.2007) one female reader called our office and asked the following question: “How could any person suffering from chlorine allergy swim for his health and are there any pools in Minsk with water disinfected by other methods?”
The Express News correspondent did his best to find this kind of pool and inquired about all the particulars with respect to the method of water alternative disinfection.
THEY GAINED THEIR LEAD
To begin with, it should be noted that no swimming pool is needed for its promotion. On any day the swimming pool office tends to be full of comers. Therefore, we want to say about the first Minsk pool that is equipped with uncommon facilities, at the expense of which the pool water is treated up to the condition with no chlorine odor available.
Two years ago, the management of Physical Training Department gave its instructions about the need for reequipment of the water treatment system with the new modern facilities (i.e. thus giving up the method of water disinfection by means of condensed chlorine). Director of Youth’s Sports Swimming School “Yantar”, Inna RUBLYOVSKAYA and Pool Engineer, Vladimir Schitnikov rejected the traditional way (i.e. water disinfection by means of UV or hypochlorite), but selected for plant “Aquachlor” to be the most efficient in terms of today’s world market analogs regardless of its highly priced value. The very plants are widely used in Russian Federation, but they are little known.
The Express News correspondent put his questions to Assistant Professor Mikhail SMIRNOV, Candidate of Medicine Science, about the reasons of new “Yantar” management preferences:
Mikhail SMIRNOV said the following: “They write about quality of drink water quite a lot, but yet nobody gave due regard to quality of swimming pool water that must be considered as rather a powerful epidemic factor. Everybody knows that an amount of skin diseases results from unsanitary conditions of swimming pools where such infectious diseases as adenovirus pharingoconjunctival fever, epidermophytosis and substantially dysentery, otitis, sinusitis, tonsillitis, conjunctivitis, cutaneous tuberculosis, legionellosis and amebic meningoencephalitis may be caught. All the aforesaid should be by all means taken into account, when we discuss on the matter of swimming pool disinfection. Just in Minsk, more than half a hundred pools are operated apart from majority of saunas. But to our sorry, all the existent methods of disinfection DO NOT give their total effect (i.e. any health-improving procedure may turn into its opposite.
ÄLONG WAY FROM DOUBTFUL SAFETY
Mikhail Smirnov added: “As far back as in seventieths of the last century, it was stated out that with water chlorinated some chloroorganic compounds to be the reason of development of such diseases as cancer, mutation, immune system depression and other aftereffects are generated.
The above carcinogen segments resulted from reaction that occurs between water organic substances and atomic (molecular) chlorine. You need know that swimming pool water is disinfected not with simple chlorine, but with active chlorine (i.e. chlorine-oxygen compounds) and efficiency of any disinfection process is determined by the amount of active chlorine added in water. Besides, the method of disinfection by means of chlorine gas (bottled chlorine) always entails high risks of anthropogenic accidents. With liquefied chlorine applied, it is necessary to observe rather complex and costly safety technology. That is why Ministry of Civil Defense issued its direction prohibiting water disinfection by means of chlorine gas (molecular chlorine) for failures to follow all the safety conditions specified.
WHO IS INTERESTED?
Last years, the problem of energy conservation is considered as the matter of urgent character. Besides, irrespective of manufacturers and distributors’ statements with respect to their product exceptionality, the rate of power consumed by the UV lamps is very high, especially for the swimming pools.
“As per the level of organic substances available in the swimming pool water, it is quite closer to the level that may be found in any well-treated sewage than to the level to be specified in drink water. For some reason, everyone forgets that when staying in water any human used to sweat (and sometimes “not only sweat”) and an amount of organic impurities is formed. With organic impurities gained their high density, water needs for its treatment with the highest UV doses that, in their turn, need for the highest power inputs!
On purchasing the UV lamps any management of the swimming pool might come to the conclusion that the new facilities would not worthwhile for low energy saving rates. Consequently, with the energy saved, quality of disinfection would be sufficiently reduced. Thus, the process of health improvement might be concerned to health hazards!” – said Mikhail Smirnov. As for “Aquachlor”, this sort of brand was accepted under the request of Russian company “Vodokanaly” instead of the previous brand “Oxides”. Oxidizing agent compound solution generated by “Aquachlor” comprises ozone, highly active short-lived hydroperoxide radicals, chlorine dioxide and other chlorine-acid compounds. In terms of the active scale, the process of disinfection is held at the expense of ozone and hydroperoxides. The active chlorine compounds may be used as safe disinfection markers. Just to say in simple, the microbes to be not keeled by ozone should be disinfected by active chlorine. The effect of highly efficient disinfection, operative control and absence of chlorine odor would be gained!
Probability of the treated swimming pool water infection is very insignificant!
And what could we say about the “Aquachlor” capacity to be considered in terms of economic efficiency and energy conservation? “Two years ago, Youth’s Sports Swimming School “Yantar” spend quite a sum of its funds (about 30 million roubles), but the value of all the obtained facilities was covered in three years. Besides, with the hypochlorite used for the same period, we would spend the sum to be similar to the one paid for “Aquachlor-100” – said Vladimir Schitnicov, Chief Engineer of “Yantar”. Power consumed by the plant for the purpose of disinfection rates to maximum 600 W/h, but actually – just to 350 W. For production of one kg of chlorine, the plants, the majority of swimming pools being equipped with, consume up to 8 kW per hour. Besides, with purchased hypochlorite applied the large swimming pools spend, within the period of one month, on the average 1.000 dollars for the purpose of water disinfection. In regard to “Yantar”, it spends 4-5 kg of salt. In this case, the swimming pool operates in the recirculation mode with only 10% of water refreshed in 24 hours. Totally, water is discharged twice a year. So, the swimming pool is filled with fresh and clear water without chorine odor.
Why do our swimming pools fail to be reequiped the same way? Evidently, majority of our authorities likes to say that they are lack of any funds. But the matter is that they have an amount of funds paid for highly priced projects featured with doubtful disinfection effects. And that is not a real problem for those, who used to live for the moment and pay public funds on questionable projects, while saying that they are bothered for human demography and health?
CHLORINE
The halogen being the strongest oxidant is extremely toxic. In ordinary conditions, elementary chlorine is rather heavy yellow-green gas with its specific pungent odor. In one volume of water (at 20°C) 2.3 of chlorine volume is dissolved. Chlorine water solutions contain chlorine water, but in a certain period of time, especially being kept in light, they gradually lose their color. The matter is that dissolved chlorine partially interacts with water, thus producing hydrochloric and hypochlorous acids. That is why, chlorine water solution gradually turns to hydrochloric acid solution.
Igor Moskalenko
Source: Express News
Issued: 29.03.2007
