A swimming pool is the only public utility whose product people immerse themselves in — and every bather is at once its consumer and its principal contaminant. Drinking water passes the lips once; pool water surrounds the swimmer entirely. That is why inspectors arrive with test kits, why licences hinge on water chemistry, and why one cloudy deep end can close a facility overnight.
Why pools fail — and what it costs
Most closures trace to the same causes: disinfectant out of range, turnover too slow, clarity lost, records missing. Behind each is a system the operator never fully documented. A licence suspension in mid-season costs more than any guideline ever will.
What the AGS guideline covers
The AGS Hygiene & Sanitation Guidelines for Swimming Pools are the international normalization of source regulation PHC-C-11, aligned with the WHO Guidelines for Safe Recreational Water Environments (Volume 2) and EN 15288 Parts 1 and 2. From licence to lifeguard, its 34 sections cover:
- Basin design — materials, user loading, depths, markings and diving geometry
- Recirculation hydraulics: turnover, pumps, drains, gutters and skimmers
- Filtration and disinfectant/chemical feed systems, including gas chlorine safety
- Chemical, physical and microbiological water parameters with sampling rules
- Spa pools — design, suction safety and water quality
- Lifeguards, bather rules, lifesaving equipment and emergency readiness
The annexes are the operator's daily companion: water chemistry at a glance, basin geometry and diving-area minimum dimensions, recirculation hydraulics, a six-part pool inspection checklist, the daily opening sequence, a chlorine gas safety card and the monthly report content — all source-preserved, plus a jurisdictional adaptation register.
Who benefits
Pool operators and hotels get the daily operating and testing regime inspectors expect; designers get preserved geometry and hydraulics tables; municipalities get a licensing benchmark.
Get the Guideline
Open every season inspection-ready. Download the AGS Swimming Pools guideline — instant digital delivery, fully editable Word format, complete with checklists and water chemistry references. Like every document in the AGS Technical Guidelines Library, it arrives as a clean, professionally structured file you can rebrand, adapt and issue as your establishment's own controlled document — no waiting, no shipping, no formatting work.
Product: Swimming Pools — available as an instant-download, fully editable package from AGS (SKU AGS-05-012).