Pool managment, training important

 Kirsty Coventry’s prolific success on the world stage of aquatic sports is evidence that this investment is both client focused and relevant to country needs and expectations.
However, the unsung heroes/heroines of our aquatic prowess has to be the public swimming pool operators. As well as being onsite prior to opening, the pool operator’s work continues long after the warm down laps are completed, or the last bomb dive is executed. Ask Mr Chakanetsa of Les Brown Pool.
Providing an essential service like a public swimming pool comes with understated responsibility. Constant change and greater expectations from the community can quiet often greet new players in the industry, with unforeseen negative outcomes.
Operationally, pools look simple enough on the surface, but however, a well-used facility can have a number of biological and physiological reactions occurring at any given time, which must be identified and managed by the person/s responsible for that facility.
These issues are more complex by the simple fact that, very rarely are two facilities replicated in design. New equipment, new technology and a licence for designers to be creative with the layout, have ensured that the overall conceptual design of the facility is normally unique and far from boring, as it works to address the proliferation of it’s community’s needs.
We are trying to start a regulatory body for implementing guidelines for pool water quality in Zimbabwe. These guidelines are a healthy starting point for any operator, but the information provided only accounts for desired levels and the regulations are all outcome based.
In many instances, the person coming to the position of pool operator either has little background in swimming pool plant operation, or they have been awarded the rights to maintain the facility through a commercial competitive tendering process.
Without being overly critical, one wonders how many decisions would be made this way, if the capital investment was personally made by the individual, who awards the contract to the rooky operator. A simple solution to this repetitious dilemma is staff training.
In any cost benefit analysis taken to undertake an estimate the value of facility staff training, the public swimming pool will always produce better results when the water is managed in an effective way that maximises the life of the plant, provides optimum disinfectant efficiency, is void of any pollutants or unwanted living species and is presented in a way that its customers can enjoy its surroundings.
Nationally accredited competencies are now available in Zimbabwe. The competencies aimed at pool plant operation cover training in the following;
– water quality
– measurement units-
– water treatment
– water balancing and testing
– filter and sanitizer systems
– workplace Health and Safety
– operation and maintenance 
– operation trouble shooting
– Your centre meets its obligations for pool water quality as described by the relevant health authority.
– The condition of your swimming pool, associated pool plant equipment and fixtures and fittings, are extended to and beyond, their maximum life expectancy.
-Swimming pool water is treated to ensure optimum bather safety and comfort.
– The desired levels for dosing pool water are maintained.
Being trained in the pool plant operation and maintenance course maximises the opportunity for the operator to play a greater role in understanding the chemical dosing requirements and to be able to manage the process as a cost benefit, rather than in an ad-hoc and sometimes expensive fashion.
The contents of the course are not only relevant to commercial public pools but the curriculum has direct synergies to the operations of a domestic pool.

– Vincent Munyeza is a certified pool operator and a director of Jackson Munyeza Pools. Contact: splash@jacksonmunyezapools.com