Public Swimming Pool Links

Attention: Links on this page take you outside the Minnesota Department of Health web site.

Swimming instructions for young children

• American Academy of Pediatrics: Swimming Lessons Not Recommended Under Age Four
• Kids in the Water — WebMDHealth

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Disease transmission in swimming pools

• General information on outbreaks at pools
  
  • Center for Disease Control reports on outbreaks
  • Highlight On: Recreational Water Illnesses - Center for Disease Control
  • "Surveillance for Waterborne-Disease Outbreaks —United
    States, 1997--1998"
  • Center for Disease Control: This website provides information for raising awareness about the spread of recreational water illnesses (RWIs). Learning about healthy swimming behaviors may help protect swimmers from the spread of illness. More than 15,000 swimmers became ill from swimming during the past decade.
  • Guidelines for Safe Recreational Waters - Swimming pools, spas and similar recreational water environments.
• Norwalk-like Viruses
  
  • Public Health Consequences and Outbreak Management
    
• Shigella
  
  • Shigellosis Outbreak Associated With an Unchlorinated
    Fill-and-Drain Wading Pool — Iowa, 2001
• Cryptosporidium
  
  • Protracted Outbreaks of Cryptosporidiosis Associated
    With Swimming Pool Use — Ohio and Nebraska, 2000

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Drowning and Near-drowning Injuries

• National Center for Injury Prevention and Control— Most children drown in swimming pools. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), emergency departments reported that among children younger than 5 years old, about 320 fatal drownings in 1991 and nearly 2,300 non-fatal near-drownings in 1993 occurred in residential swimming pools. Between 60-90% of drownings among children aged 0-4 years occur in residential pools; more than half of these occur at the child's own home. Compared with in-ground pools without four-sided fencing, 60% fewer drownings occur in in-ground pools with four-sided isolation fencing.
• American Academy of Pediatrics - NEW STUDY FIRST TO GATHER NATIONAL DATA ON WHERE CHILDREN DROWN
  
  In some of the nation's sunbelt, drowning has been the leading cause of accidental death in the home of children under 5 years old. The information below can help parents and caregivers provide young children with the protection they deserve.
  
  Each year, nationwide, more than 300 children under 5 years old drown in residential swimming pools, usually a pool owned by their family. In addition, more than 2,000 children in that age group are treated in hospital emergency rooms for submersion injures.
  
  Medical costs for submersion victims during the initial hospitalization alone can be quite high. Costs can range from an estimated $2,000 for a victim who recovers fully to $80,000 for a victim with severe brain damage. Some severely brain damaged victims have initial hospital stays in excess of 120 days and expenses in excess of $150,000.

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Key Agencies for Pool-related Health and Safety Information

• Center for Disease Control
• Center for Disease Control - Healthy Swimming
• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• National Safety Council References for Pool Construction and Operation

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References for Pool Construction and Operation

• NSF Products and Service Listings: Equipment which is part of the installation or alteration of a pool recirculation system must comply with Standard50, "Circulation System Components for Swimming Pools, Spas or Hot Tubs," of the NSF International.
• Individual States' Child Care Licensure Regulations, National Resource for Center for Health and Safety in Child Care, (search on "pool")
• National Health & Safety Performance Standards Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care Programs for swimming, wading and water
• Manufacturers of ASME/ANSI A112.19.8-2007 Approved Drain Covers

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For questions about this page, please contact the Pool Program at health.poolsbeaches@state.mn.us or 651-201-4503.