Recreational water illnesses are easily prevented by taking a few simple steps! Whether you are the pool owner, you are visiting friends, or use a community pool, keep these tips in mind:
- Practice general good hygiene. Take a shower before swimming. Wash your hands with soap and water after eating, using the bathroom, and changing diapers. Germs on your body can end up in the water and be a hazard to everyone!
- Make sure your children are clean before swimming. Pay special attention to the rear end! Invisible amounts of fecal matter can end up in the pool. Washing with soap and water before swimming can help keep germs out of the pool.
- Don’t drink the pool water. Try to avoid getting it in your mouth at all! Swallowing pool water (whether accidentally or on purpose) is the main way that recreational water illnesses are spread.
- Don’t swim if you have diarrhea. This one is especially important for kids in diapers, which can leak. One person can easily contaminate an entire pool.
- Take your kids on frequent bathroom breaks and check diapers often. Don’t wait until it’s too late!
- Change diapers in a bathroom, away from poolside. Germs can easily spread from surfaces around the pool to objects that go in the water.
Healthy swimming habits can help protect you and your family from pool-borne illnesses. If you stop germs from getting into the pool in the first place, you’re halfway there!
You should monitor your pool’s chlorine and pH levels daily. Appropriate levels of chemicals will kill the germs that do manage to get into the water. Chlorine does not work instantly; it can take several days to kill hardier germs. Even the best-maintained pools can spread illness, but between taking the steps above and proper maintenance, you have a great chance of keeping pool-borne illnesses at bay.