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Healthy & Safe Swimming · Healthier Together: Larimer County's Public Health Podcast

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  Welcome to Healthier Together, Larimer County's
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  public health podcast, where we come together
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  for healthier lives, connected communities, and
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  real conversations. From your local public health
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  team, I'm your host, Tom. And I'm Joanna. Every
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  May, we celebrate Healthy and Safe Swimming Week
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  leading up to Memorial Day. Healthy and Safe
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  Swimming Week highlights the roles of swimmers,
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  caregivers, facility owners and operators, and
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  public health officials in preventing disease
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  outbreaks, cool chemical injuries, and drownings.
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  Today, we are joined by Kate Uchitel, environmental
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  health specialist here at the health department,
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  here to talk about how the health department
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  works to keep public pools safe and steps we
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  can all take to stay safe and healthy this summer.
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  Kate, thank you so much for joining us. Thank
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  you for having me here. To start, can you tell
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  us a bit about your role at the health department
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  and the work that you do? Yes. So I'm an environmental
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  health specialist lead within our water quality
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  program. I'm a lead for aquatics. which include
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  semi -public and public pools. And we facilitate
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  inspections depending on whether a pool is operating
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  year -round or seasonally. Year -round will typically
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  go out for inspections twice a year. If it's
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  a seasonally operating pool, we'll only go out
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  once. And that is excluding follow -ups if there
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  are any things that need to be taken a look at
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  maybe a second time. How does public health show
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  up in recreational water facilities? What are
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  we concerned with when we go and inspect a facility?
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  We are concerned with kind of a handful of items.
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  Our goals are preventing drowning, illnesses,
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  slips and falls, chemical hazards. Those are
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  the big ones. We operate both as a regulator
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  and we try hard to be an educator as well. That's
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  primarily our focus. On site, we typically meet
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  with the operator if they're available and discuss
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  kind of what they're seeing, if there's any help
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  that they need, and discuss what we're looking
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  at and kind of how things have changed since
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  the last inspection. So we are trying to really
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  focus on operator education so that way they
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  know the risks affiliated with the pools that
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  they're operating. So what kind of facilities
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  do you guys actually inspect? So we inspect any
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  public or semi -public pool, which can range
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  from the gyms and hotels to your community pools,
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  anywhere that really has either a membership
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  component or that you can kind of buy an access
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  to. So really wherever you can kind of get your
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  way into, excluding the... pool and you're very
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  back i was gonna say it's not anybody's backyard
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  that you're actually going and inspecting it's
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  hey you have to have access to this through a
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  membership or it's open to the public and i'm
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  assuming that this does not cover like open bodies
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  of water like horseshoe for the reservoir where
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  it's like hey or somebody's lake yeah we don't
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  have any program for natural bodies of water
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  so walk me through an inspection what does it
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  look like when you start and kind of all the
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  way through the end i'm curious what you guys
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  are looking for So right before we start, we
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  always take a look at the history beforehand.
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  And especially if we know, sometimes we'll go
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  in with the knowledge of like, hey, we know that
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  these guys have had an issue with either like
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  a chemical or maybe a barrier. But we'll go in
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  before we even get to the poolside. We'll take
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  a look at the gates, the enclosure, making sure
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  that everything is. kind of separated and that
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  the gates can close and make sure that no kids
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  can kind of just run on in and jump in the pool
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  without really really really trying to and then
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  from there we'll take a look at signage making
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  sure that there's no diving signs if applicable
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  how deep the water is and take a look at the
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  water chemistry as well and then from there we
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  will go into the pump room to take a look at
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  where the chemicals are stored and also take
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  a look at how the system is flowing to make sure
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  that they have feeders and all the unnecessary
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  equipment that we look for. Well, that sounds
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  pretty comprehensive. You know, I did want to
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  ask, though, it sounds like there's been some
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  changes with regards to the health codes for
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  these kind of facilities. My understanding is
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  that that's part of the MAC, that model aquatic
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  health code that we've all been talking about
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  in the department. Can you tell us a little bit
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  about the history of like the pool inspections
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  that we've been doing and what's really changing?
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  Yes. So when I first came here, there was an
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  intern that did inspections of public pools before
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  we even had a program. And from her research,
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  it was widely found out that we needed to have
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  a program. And from there, we started with the
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  Colorado baths regulations that we have currently
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  at the state level based on drinking regulations
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  back, I think, in the 90s. So the information
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  that we've been working with for the last five
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  or so years has been not the most effective that
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  we would look for. So in the last couple of years,
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  we've been focusing on changing over to CDC's
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  model aquatic health code, the MAC that you referenced.
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  And we have finally included that into our very
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  own regulations for Larimer County aquatic health
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  regulations as of January 1st, 2026. What are
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  some of the bigger changes that you see in the
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  MAC that we're now starting to incorporate that
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  we didn't previously? Yeah. So one of the big
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  things, the biggest thing I would say is. transition
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  over to a minimum chlorine level. The previous
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  one was, I believe, 0 .4 pre -chlorine, and it's
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  2 now. So 0 .4 was based on drinking water standards,
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  not the most effective for treating water -based
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  diseases. Gotcha. So I am curious, and I'm sure
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  some of our listeners are. Right now, we have
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  retail food establishment inspection reports
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  that are available online. So somebody could
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  look at it and say, oh, okay, this restaurant,
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  yeah, they passed. Great. Is there anything like
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  that for pools? Yeah. Actually, on the very same
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  page that you would look up those restaurant
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  inspections, you can take a look at pool inspections
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  too. There's a tab over on the side that you
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  can click what program it focuses on, and you
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  just switch that over to pools. And you type
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  in either a pool you want to look at or if you
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  just want to look at the most recent inspections.
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  You can leave it blank, click the search button,
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  and they'll all pop up. Gotcha. So, I mean, but
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  when you walk into a pool, it's not like we,
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  and this might change over time, they don't have
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  like a permit that's prominently displayed like
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  we do in our restaurants. Like there's nothing
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  on site that somebody could go, oh, yeah, they
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  passed their most recent inspection. Yes. We
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  don't have anything like that at this time. One
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  of the regulation requirements in the MAC and
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  what we'll be looking for. is that they have
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  a posted last inspection results. But that is
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  something that we are still working on kind of
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  internally, how they can go about hanging that
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  up, whether they need to post each individual
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  one or if we'll have like a QR code to make it
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  easier on them for their patrons just to quickly
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  look at it. What diseases are most commonly spread
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  through public polls? The top one I would say
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  is cryptosporidium, which is a gastrointestinal
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  disease that can, well, will give you diarrhea
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  and just digestive upset. It is resistant. It's
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  very chlorine resistant. So you have to have
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  that minimum chlorine levels for a certain amount
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  of time in order to treat it. So anytime that
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  there is. An incident, a diarrheal incident,
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  it should be treated with high levels of disinfectant
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  for X amount of time, depending on what those
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  levels are. There are concerns about like E.
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  coli, Giardia, swimmer's ear. Hot tubs are known
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  for folliculitis, which is just a hot tub rash.
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  A lot of times with those, those bacteria will
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  hang out in like a biomat, essentially. And that
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  kind of has to be scrubbed in addition to that
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  chlorine or that disinfectant that's being treated
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  as well. Are there steps that people visiting
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  public pools can take to help prevent the spread
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  of those diseases? Yeah. So the biggest one I
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  would say it's not fun. But if you or your kiddo
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  has any symptoms of illness like diarrhea or
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  vomiting too, Stay out of the water for at least
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  24 to 48 hours till those symptoms disappear.
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  Because especially with diarrhea, it can affect
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  the whole pool really quickly and it's a long
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  process to treat. And then what are some common
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  safety hazards associated with pools and other
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  aquatic facilities that people should be aware
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  of this summer? There are a handful. So one of
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  the things that we're taking a look at is the
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  mandarin, and it should have a grate on it. Depending
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  on where it's located, it'll have to be elevated.
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  But the biggest thing that we're looking for
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  for the grate is making sure that it's not an
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  entrapment hazard. It could potentially entrap
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  somebody and drown them, potentially suction
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  them in. We have had recent drownings in the
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  U .S. I think there were at least two last year.
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  But yeah, that's one of the things that we're
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  looking at. And then preventing drownings. One
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  thing to think about would just be the color
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  of clothes that you're wearing to the pool. And
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  you want something that contrasts the bottom
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  of the pool in case there is anybody who's been
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  down there for longer than they should be. So
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  what steps can facility operators take to mitigate
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  some of these hazards? You mentioned that there's
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  the main drain. Is there anything they should
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  be paying attention with regards to that? Yeah,
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  so the main drain actually... is a federal regulation.
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  That's something that everybody should be doing
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  already, but that's based on the Virginia Graham
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  Baker Act, which unfortunately took a young girl's
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  life because she got sucked in and trapped and
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  drowned. One of the things is that in addition
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  to it being a certain type of main drain cover,
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  it does have to be replaced typically every five
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  to 10 years, depending on the brand, but making
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  sure that you have information about that. making
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  sure you're up to date on that. So that way you
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  don't have that hazard. You're taking a proactive
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  approach. Do you have any tips for private pool
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  owners on how they can keep themselves and the
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  swimmers at their pools healthy this summer?
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  Yeah, I would say keep an eye out on the disinfection.
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  Keep your chlorine at least at one part per million.
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  And in addition to that, always keep an eye on
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  your kids. Drownings can happen really quickly
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  and it's... usually preventable. So where can
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  listeners go to learn more about staying healthy
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  and safe while swimming? So one of the things
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  that we've been working on is our website. There's
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  a lot of information there about our current
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  regulations and the different options available.
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  And so preemptive options in preventing illness
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  and hazards affiliated with recreational waters.
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  Another great site is the CDC at Healthy Swimming.
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  The CDC is actually what put together the Model
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  Aquatic Health Code, which is frequently, I think
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  every few years or so, revisited. So in addition
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  to looking at the MAC, you can also take a look
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  at the CDC's website. There's a lot of information
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  there about healthy swimming and preventing illness
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  and hazards. Perfect. Kate, thank you so much
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  for joining us. We really appreciate you taking
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  the time. Yes. Thank you for having me here.
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  Do you have a question about public health in
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  Larimer County or a topic you'd like us to discuss?
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  Let us know. Email us at healthiertogetheratlarimer
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  .org. Thanks for listening, Larimer County. Until
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  next time, stay well, stay connected, and remember,
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  we really are healthier together.