Is your school’s swimming pool filter fit for purpose?
Is your school's swimming pool filter fit for purpose?
Concerned about your school or academy pool water quality?
With the provision of swimming instruction being statutory for all schools in England as part of the national curriculum for pupils in Key Stage 1 (KS1) or Key Stage 2 (KS2), educational organisations must ensure they have access to fit-for-purpose swimming facilities.
These swimming pool facilities could be on-site, off-site at a nearby leisure centre, or provided as part of a pop-up pool arrangement with the UK school or academy.
According to Jane Nickerson, Swim England chief executive, more than 1,300 schools across the country own their own swimming pool, placing the responsibility on these educational providers to ensure their facilities are compliant with the published guidelines and fit for purpose.
What are the requirements for education sector pool filters?
The Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group (PWTAG) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) both provide extensive guidance for the safe operation and maintenance of pools used by the public for water-related activities.
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, HSE legislation emphasises maintaining safe and hygienic pool water through regular inspections, staff training, and the implementation of emergency procedures, while PWTAG standards outline the recommended pool filtration duties of all pool operators.
This includes:
- Maintaining levels of disinfectant
- Safely disposing of backwash water, and
- Ensuring the optimum level of filtration is being used
While no single mandatory law exists for school pool filtration type, for high bather loads, PWTAG recommends that the filter be able to:
- Provide medium-rate filtration, operating up to 25m3/m2/h (or 25m/h)
- Utilise high-rate granular media filters (using graded sand or approved glass media)
- Support a turnover time (the time in which the entire volume of water in the pool has passed through the filtration system) of 2.5 to 3 hours
How can deep bed filters help?
At Chemsol, we understand the difficulties facing schools across the UK right now.
Between mass public pool closures and up to 60 per cent of swimming pools being beyond their expected lifespans or in need of refurbishment, more educational providers are being forced to use temporary pop-up pools that may not meet the necessary health and safety requirements.
That’s why we believe – along with many leaders from the local government and the fitness and leisure sector - that the government must direct much-needed funds towards saving these assets or risk exacerbating the current strain on communities, schools, and healthcare providers.
With some investment, we can help local leisure centres and schools with on-site swimming facilities to update their filtration systems and ensure full compliance, rather than expose their pupils to potential hazards via temporary pop-up swimming pools.
And when it comes to providing safe pool filtration for children during swimming lessons, deep bed filters offer a highly effective solution for schools and leisure centres in the UK.
This is because the deeper bed (compared to standard, shallow filters) provides increased contact time between the water and media for enhanced filtration, with many rapid filtration systems operating between 4 to 15 m/h – far superior to the 25m/h maximum PWTAG recommendation.
Coupled with a self-sterilising and high-performance filtration media like AFM® (Activated Filter Media), instead of traditional sand, deep bed pool filtration can be even more effective.
For tailored recommendations, don’t hesitate to speak to our helpful team of engineers today.
Case study: James Hornby School Plant Room Upgrade
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To combat the school’s existing inefficient, outdated, and underperforming swimming pool plant room equipment and make ongoing maintenance easier for the school’s non-specialist staff, our team designed and installed a modern, automated plant room system.
This comprehensive upgrade included new filtration with AFM (Activated Filter Media) media, automated chemical dosing and monitoring, and simplified controls.
The school’s maintenance team was also provided with full operator training, an operations manual, and ongoing support.
Following these school pool filtration improvements, the results were:
- Modern automated plant room replacing outdated equipment
- Simplified controls suitable for non-specialist operators
- Consistent water quality with automated dosing
- Full operator training and support package provided
- Works completed during school holiday period
Facilities Manager, James Hornsby School:
"The new system is so much easier to manage. Our maintenance team can now operate the pool plant room confidently without needing specialist knowledge."
What about pop-up pools?
With some schools – particularly public schools – struggling to secure access to swimming pool facilities, an increasingly popular solution is to use pop-up pools.
These temporary, on-site provisions can help public schools to overcome travel costs and declining access to permanent swimming facilities.
However, a joint statement issued by Swim England, the Swimming Teachers Association, and Swim Wales, said that no pop-up pools currently in use (as of July 2024) for school swimming lessons meet PWTAG or HSE guidance.
While these organisations note the importance of children having the opportunity to learn how to swim, these pop-up pools are primarily designed for domestic use only.
This means their circulation and filtration systems are likely to be ineffective given the higher bather load and increased usage when providing swimming lessons to large groups of children.
Subsequently, the risk of water-borne pathogen transmission is higher, posing a threat to swimmer safety.
For schools wishing to continue using temporary pop-up pools, however, these organisations released further guidance in December 2024 to help them ensure the pools meet the rigorous safety, hygiene, and operational standards.
This includes (but is not limited to), making sure the pools:
- Comply with relevant health and safety regulations (HSG179 and PWTAG technical note TN65)
- Deliver water quality safety
- Possess robust structural integrity
While some providers can meet these stringent standards set by industry bodies, others struggle to maintain compliance, leading to widespread safety concerns.
Transform the water quality of your school’s pool
Regardless of whether your existing swimming pool is lacking efficiency, running on outdated equipment, or even raising physical safety concerns, the experienced team of pool engineers at Chemsol can help you to provide students with a safer, more hygienic swimming environment.
We can offer public and private schools a wide range of pool services, including decommissioning old pool plant rooms, designing and installing updated systems, carrying out repairs, as well as providing ongoing maintenance and support.
This also extends to providing comprehensive pool filtration packages designed to suit the specific needs of your educational organisation.
To find out more about our filtration solutions, including deep bed filtration, please contact Chemsol today.
Alongside reaching out online, you can also get in touch via phone by calling 01492 582 888 or email by sending your enquiry to info@chemsol.co.uk.
[EW1]Suggest adding an image from https://swimmingpoolservices.co.uk/case-studies/james-hornsby-school-plant-room