Analys av vattenkvalitet i ett kommunalt badhus
Bath has been a part of human history for a long time. Today bathing/swimming inmunicipal pools is for people of all ages and it is possible to take swimming courses,exercise or enjoy recreation. The municipal indoor pool of Hogdalen in Sweden wasbuild in the sixties and has had problems with high levels of heterotrophic bacteria. Thefacility has two larger pools, one adventure park for young kids, two smaller bath tubsand a jacuzzi. To improve water quality UV light and coal filter were installed inOctober 2009 to the already existing purification system. The water purification startswith a mechanical grid followed by flocculation and then through a sand filter beforepH adjustment and chlorine. To adjust water levels in the pools drinking water is addedwhen needed. Chlorine is a common and effective disinfectant but are also known toreact with organic material and form disinfection by products (DBP) which decreasesthe disinfection level and could be a health problem. The goal of this essay is toevaluate the technology that was installed in October 2009. Investigations of laboratorydata, comparing data before and after with a one way anova test, do not show asignificant improvement of heterotrophic bacteria and free chlorine but TOC, DBP andtotal chlorine have improved significantly. The conclusion is that UV-light and coalfilter effectively decreased levels of DBP and TOC in the pool water of Hogdalen. Highlevels of heterotrophic bacteria before October 2009 was a result of free chlorineforming chlorinated byproducts with organic material which led to low levels of freechlorine. After October 2009 the level of free chlorine was not high enough to disinfectthe water properly because of adjustment problems to new technology. Total chlorinelevels have decreased after October 2009 which makes it possible to add more chlorine.Although heterotrophic bacteria did not decrease as expected the improvement of DBPlevels decreases health risks for both swimmers and employees staying in the pool area.