Background and Objective: Contamination of swimming pools’ water can lead to the transfer of different diseases to humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the water quality health indicators in Urmia swimming pools.

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 14 active covered swimming pools in Urmia city were chosen as census. The physical parameters such as pH, temperature, turbidity and chemical ones such as residual chlorine, hardness, alkalinity and microbial parameters such as heterotrophic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus and fecal and total coliforms were studied. Sampling has been conducted every weak for 6 months and they were analyzed under standard procedures. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Results: In this research, free residual chlorine in %67, turbidity in %89.9, amount of pH in %83.8 and temperature in %76.2 of the samples were desirable.  In none of the pools, fecal coliform, fecal streptococcus and staphylococcus aureus were above the threshold levels. The populations of heterotrophic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in %69.96, %98.8, %85.1 of the samples were desirable, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated that there is a direct relationship between water turbidity and the population of bacteria and reverse relationship between the residual chlorine and the studied organisms(r=-0.595, p<0.005)

Conclusion: According to the results, complete compliance of the pools to the standards was fairly poor. It is also important to maintain the proper level of free residual chlorine and pH in the swimming pools to ensure safety of the water quality.

Key words: Swimming pool water, Microbial quality, Physical quality, Chemical quality

Funding: This research was funded by Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences.

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences approved the study.

How to cite this article: Zazouli MA, Mahdavi Y, Moradi Golrokhi M, Balarak D. Investigation of Water Quality Health Indicators of the Swimming Pools in Urmia in 2013. J RafsanjanUniv Med Sci 2015 13(11): 1033-48. [Farsi]